UK Moves to 10-Year Default Wait for Settlement Under Earned Settlement Plan

On 2 November 2026, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told Parliament the UK will move to an earned settlement model. The standard wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) rises from 5 years to 10 years for most migrants. High earners and some public service workers keep a 5-year path. The top earners get a 3-year path. People with immigration breaches face 20 years or more.

The Home Office published its full response to the consultation, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, on the same day. The consultation drew 204,667 responses, and 73% of individual respondents were current visa holders.

Nothing changes today. The Home Secretary told MPs the changes "will begin to be laid from the December Immigration Rules" and "will be implemented over the course of 2027". Settlement rules apply at the date of your settlement decision, not the date you arrived. So if you plan to apply for ILR in 2027 or later, the new rules will likely shape your case.

The new settlement pathways

Your qualifying period will depend on what you earn, the work you do, and your immigration history. The Home Office response sets out four main pathways.

• 3 years: for the highest earners, on at least £125,141 a year (the additional rate of income tax), and people on the top talent routes.
• 5 years: for higher earners on at least £50,271 a year (the higher rate of income tax), plus doctors, nurses, teachers and other health and education roles on national pay scales.
• 10 years: the new default for everyone else who meets a minimum earnings level of £12,571 a year.
• 20 years: for people with specified immigration breaches, or people who keep using specified public funds.

The earnings thresholds stay linked to UK income tax thresholds. If those thresholds move, the settlement thresholds move with them.

Not every visa route qualifies for every pathway. The 3-year and 5-year paths need a high talent permission, such as Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale Up, Innovator Founder or International Sportsperson. Family and Private Life routes do not qualify for the 3-year or 5-year paths. Applicants on those routes would use the 10-year or 20-year path instead.

Four conditions every applicant must meet

Before any pathway applies, you must clear four mandatory conditions. These apply to everyone seeking settlement, whenever you arrived.

• No criminal record: any adult applicant with a UK criminal record will be refused. This covers custodial and suspended sentences, out-of-court disposals, community sentences and some civil orders. Today, mandatory refusal applies mainly to sentences of 12 months or more.
• English at B2 level: the standard rises from B1 (GCSE equivalent) to B2 (A-level equivalent). C1 English will not shorten your wait. Children, people aged 65 and over, and people with a qualifying physical or mental condition stay exempt.
• No debt to the state: you must have no outstanding NHS debt, unpaid tax, unpaid National Insurance, or litigation debt owed to the Home Office.
• Sustained contribution: you must show earnings of at least £12,571 a year for at least three years, in line with the basic rate of income tax.

The Life in the UK test continues, with the current exemptions. The Home Office says the test is under review so the content better reflects modern Britain.

How the "best years" earnings test works

The Home Office will not require a perfect earnings record. You rely on your best years inside a set window before you apply.

• 3-year path: earn at least £125,141 in three of the four years before you apply.
• 5-year path: earn at least £50,271 in three of the five years before you apply.
• 10-year path: earn at least £12,571 in five of the seven years before you apply.

This protects you if you take parental leave or have a period of lower pay.

What changes for partners and children

Couples will be able to combine earnings. The household income threshold will be £25,142, twice the individual minimum. One partner might meet this alone, or both partners might add their pay together. A partner who works part-time to care for children does not need to reach £12,571 personally if the couple meets £25,142 together.

A partner who arrives with you will settle at the same time as you, subject to the requirements. A partner who joins you later must complete the same qualifying period. For example, if your partner joins you two years into a 5-year path, your partner would apply two years after you.

Children under 18 will still settle with their parents. Young adults aged 18 to 24 who keep child dependant status settle as dependants only when both parents settle. Children who have spent seven years or most of their life in the UK keep their own existing route.

Breaches, benefits and illegal entry

Specified immigration breaches committed as an adult will put you on a 20-year path, whatever you earn. The Immigration Rules will list the breaches. The response names overstaying, breaching a visa condition, using deception, and acting to frustrate immigration controls.

On public funds, you are expected not to have used specified public funds in the five years before you apply. If you keep using them, you face 20 years on a qualifying route. The Home Office will use the current definition of public funds first, then set out safeguards before the rules start.

For refugees, people on approved safe and legal routes settle after 5 years. Others face 20 years, cut to 10 years for those who work or study. People who arrived by small boat or another clandestine route face an extra 10 years, up to 30 years in total.

Care workers and the May 2025 cut-off

The biggest change from the consultation concerns care workers. According to the Home Secretary, 250,000 people and their dependants arrived on, or switched into, the social care route between 2022 and 2025.

If you entered or switched into the care route before the Immigration White Paper of May 2025, you keep the 5-year path. You must meet the salary condition of £25,000 a year, plus the sponsorship and employment rules of your visa. You must also meet the new criminality and English rules.

Around a quarter of this group did not meet their visa conditions. They will get a second chance through a further 5-year Health and Care visa, limited to genuine care work and with no recourse to public funds. They will not be tied to their old employer.

From 1 February 2027, care workers who lose their job because their sponsor loses its licence get up to 120 days to secure a job offer. They then get a further 60 days to sort out their visa. If you miss these limits, your visa will be curtailed. The government says around 1,800 exploitative employers have already lost their sponsor licences.

A similar one-off rule covers health and education workers below RQF level 6 on national pay scales, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants, who came before May 2025. Skilled Workers in the pre-April 2024 cohort below RQF 6 will be able to extend their visas on current terms until 2035.

Who keeps today's rules

Some groups keep their current settlement path. These include Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas), members of the armed forces, family members of British citizens, people on legacy routes such as Windrush, and bereaved partners. Anyone who already holds settled status keeps the status.

Time on temporary routes will stop counting towards settlement. The list includes Visit, Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual, Global Business Mobility, Youth Mobility, Seasonal Worker, Overseas Domestic Worker and other Temporary Worker routes. The separate 10-year Long Residence route will go.

What you should do now

The detailed rules arrive from December, with guidance and impact assessments to follow. Use the time to prepare your evidence.

• Check your earnings record: download your P60s and HMRC tax records. Work out which pathway your best years place you on.
• Plan your English test: if you hold B1 today, start preparing for B2 now.
• Clear any debts: settle any NHS charges, tax arrears or Home Office costs before you apply.
• Keep your status clean: apply to extend on time and follow every visa condition. One overstay puts you on the 20-year path.
• Confirm your arrival date: if you work in care, health or education, keep proof you joined your route before May 2025.
• Watch the December rules: read the statement of changes when published, then check whether your case fits the new pathways.

If your case is complex, speak to a regulated immigration adviser before you apply. Use MigrantIQ to map your timeline to settlement and plan each visa extension.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Home Secretary unveils new rules for migrants settling in the UK (2 November 2026)
• GOV.UK: Earned settlement, oral statement to Parliament (2 November 2026)
• GOV.UK: Earned settlement consultation outcome
• Home Office: Government response to the earned settlement consultation (PDF, November 2026)
• GOV.UK: Earned settlement consultation findings
• GOV.UK: Public funds guidance