Earned Settlement Confirmed: What the New ILR Rules Mean for You

Earned Settlement is the government’s new framework for deciding when migrants can get indefinite leave to remain, also called settlement or ILR. ILR gives the right to live in the UK permanently, with unrestricted access to work, public funds and social housing. For most people it is also the step before British citizenship.

Under the current rules, most work and family routes lead to ILR after five years, subject to route requirements such as salary, continuous residence and English. Under Earned Settlement, time spent in the UK will not be enough on its own. Your qualifying period will reflect your contribution, integration and compliance with the rules.

The Home Office consulted on the model between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026 and received 204,667 responses. The final framework differs from the proposals in several ways. Workers in lower skilled roles no longer face the 15 year path that was proposed, volunteering will not shorten the wait, and C1 English will not give a further reduction.

The changes will begin to be laid in the Immigration Rules from December 2026 and will be implemented over the course of 2027 (EIN). There is no single start date: different changes may take effect at different times, and the Home Office will publish further guidance before implementation.

One related change is already fixed. Under Statement of Changes HC 1691, laid on 5 March 2026, many settlement applications made from 26 March 2027 will need English at B2 level, subject to exemptions.

Until each change takes effect, the current ILR requirements still apply.

The government’s response sets five minimum requirements for every settlement application. Higher earnings or public service cannot offset them. Existing exemptions continue, for example for children, people aged 65 and over, and people with a relevant physical or mental condition.

1. No criminal record. Any adult with a UK criminal record will be refused. This includes custodial and suspended sentences, fines, community sentences, conditional cautions and discharges. Relevant overseas convictions can also lead to refusal.
2. No outstanding government debt. This includes NHS debt, unpaid tax and National Insurance, and litigation debt owed to the Home Office.
3. English at B2 level, equivalent to A Level in a foreign language.
4. The Life in the UK test.
5. Sustained contribution. The minimum is earnings of at least £12,571 a year, assessed over a “best years” period. Couples can combine their earnings to meet a household threshold of £25,142.

The criminality test is a major tightening. Today, refusal is mandatory for sentences of 12 months or more, persistent offending and offences causing serious harm, while shorter sentences and out of court disposals lead to discretionary refusal. Under Earned Settlement, any adult criminal record will mean refusal.

Once the mandatory requirements are met, your qualifying period depends on which pathway you meet. These are the four main pathways for work and family routes.

To use the three, five or ten year pathways, you must also not have:

• committed a specified immigration breach as an adult, such as overstaying, breaching visa conditions, using deception or frustrating immigration control
• accessed specified public funds in the five years immediately before applying (exemptions for vulnerable groups will be published before implementation)

How the “best years” test works: earnings are assessed over a longer window than the qualifying period, so a year of maternity leave, illness or caring does not automatically push you onto a longer path. But the test looks back over several years. A pay rise shortly before you apply will not, on its own, move you to a faster pathway.

Eligible public service roles are health and education occupations at RQF level 6 or above that are paid on national pay scales, such as doctors, nurses, teachers and social workers. The job title alone is not enough: you need five years in an eligible occupation.

The thresholds are linked to income tax thresholds and will move if those change. Not every visa qualifies for every pathway. For example, Family and Private Life permission cannot use the three or five year pathways. Refugees follow separate pathways, covered below.

Under Earned Settlement, only time on routes designed to lead to settlement will count. The 10 year Long Residence route will close.

Time on protection or human rights routes cannot be combined with time on work or family routes. If you move between them, the clock for the new pathway starts when you move. The treatment of leave outside the rules is still under review.

Some groups stay outside the main Earned Settlement framework and keep their existing arrangements:

• Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas): five years, subject to route requirements
• Members of HM Armed Forces, and their partners and children
• Afghan resettlement schemes and legacy safe and legal routes
• Windrush cases
• Bereaved partners, victims of domestic abuse, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, children in local authority care, and young people who have grown up in the UK
• The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) and other separate or closed routes, such as the Turkish ECAA routes and Tier 1 (Investor)

Keeping your qualifying period does not mean the new standards do not apply. Most of these groups will still need to meet the strengthened criminality rules and the B2 English standard, unless an existing exemption applies.

Partners, parents and children of British citizens, and people on UK Ancestry, are inside the framework but keep a five year pathway through the British connection route, provided they meet the mandatory requirements.

If you already hold ILR, these reforms will not take it away. Existing powers to revoke ILR in limited circumstances, such as where it was obtained by deception, continue to apply.

The Home Secretary told Parliament that around 250,000 people, plus their dependants, arrived on or switched into the social care route between 2022 and 2025. A one off transitional arrangement applies to care workers who entered, or switched into, the care route before the Immigration White Paper was published in May 2025.

Care workers in this group keep the five year qualifying period if they meet the salary (£25,000 a year), sponsorship and employment requirements. They must also meet the new mandatory requirements, including the criminality rules and English, unless an exemption applies.

Those who do not meet the requirements after five years can apply for a further five year Health and Care visa, restricted to genuine care work, and then apply for settlement again. They will have no recourse to public funds on that visa.

From 1 February 2027, care workers who lose their job because their sponsor’s licence is revoked will have up to 120 days to secure a new job offer, and a further 60 days to resolve their visa. If they cannot, their visa will be curtailed. Care workers who joined the route after May 2025 will be on the standard ten year pathway.

This protection is limited to the care route. It is not a general exemption for everyone who arrived before May 2025. Care providers should also review their sponsor licence duties, as the Home Office continues to revoke licences on this route.

A similar one off arrangement covers health and education roles below RQF level 6 that are paid on national pay scales, such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants. Workers in these roles who came to the UK before the May 2025 White Paper, and who meet the requirements of their visa, keep a five year route. Those arriving after that date will be on the ten year pathway.

Skilled Workers who arrived under the lower salary thresholds in place before April 2024 were previously allowed to extend on those terms until 2030. Because many of them now face a ten year pathway, the government will let this group extend their visas on their current terms until 2035.

• Partners who arrive with the main applicant can settle at the same time, provided they meet the requirements.
• Partners who join later must complete the same qualifying period themselves before settling.
• Children under 18 can settle with their parents. They are exempt from the income, debt, English and Life in the UK requirements, but the suitability and criminality rules still apply.
• Young adults aged 18 to 24 who keep child dependant status can settle with their family. They must meet the adult mandatory requirements, except the individual income test.
• Dependants aged 25 or over when the family becomes eligible will need to qualify independently or move onto their own immigration route.

Yes, for most people. The government’s position, set out in the Home Secretary’s statement and the consultation response, is that applications are ordinarily decided under the rules in force on the date of decision, unless transitional provisions say otherwise. The Home Office press release refers instead to the point of application, so the final commencement and transitional wording will be decisive.

The Home Office estimates that over 500,000 people will become eligible to settle later than under the current rules. The government says no one will be forced to leave because of these reforms. Staying on will still depend on meeting the requirements of any further visa.

Example (illustrative only): a Skilled Worker arrived in 2023 on £38,000 and expected ILR in 2028. Under the announced model, they would normally be on the ten year pathway. A pay rise to £52,000 in their final year would not, by itself, move them to five years, because they need earnings of at least £50,271 in three of the five years before applying.

The policy sets separate settlement pathways for refugees:

• Safe and legal routes: refugees admitted through the UK Resettlement Scheme or other designated resettlement or sponsorship routes can settle after five years. Entering on another visa and then claiming asylum does not count.
• Core Protection: refugees granted protection after claiming asylum in the UK move onto Core Protection, with a standard pathway of 20 years.
• Protection Work and Study: those who move into sustained work, education or training can settle after ten years on that route. The clock starts when they move onto it, and earlier time on Core Protection does not count.
• Illegal entry: anyone who entered illegally, including by small boat, faces an extra ten years, so 20 years via Protection Work and Study or 30 years via Core Protection. This does not apply where Article 31 of the Refugee Convention protects the person.

Refugees who claimed asylum before 2 March 2026 will move to Core Protection, but time already spent with refugee status will count. The government has said protection will continue for as long as a genuine refugee needs it. If you hold refugee status, speak to an adviser authorised for asylum and protection work before planning your settlement application.

The rules are not yet in force, so there is time to prepare. These are the steps we are advising clients to take:

1. Check whether you already qualify for ILR under the current rules. If you do, it may be worth discussing an earlier application with an adviser. Applying before a particular date does not guarantee you will be assessed under the current rules. That depends on commencement and transitional wording not yet published.
2. Map your earnings history. Count the tax years in which you earned above £12,571, £50,271 and £125,141. Keep payslips, P60s and contracts.
3. Check your tax and National Insurance record through your HMRC personal tax account on GOV.UK, and clear any NHS, tax or other government debt.
4. Plan your Life in the UK test and B2 English test. If you expect to apply on or after 26 March 2027, aim for B2.
5. Keep your immigration status valid. Overstaying, breaching your conditions or using deception as an adult could push settlement back to 20 years.
6. Think before claiming public funds. Using specified public funds in the five years before applying may put you on the 20 year pathway, unless an exemption applies.
7. If you were relying on the Long Residence route, for example after time as a Student or Graduate, get advice now. That route will close.

• The exact wording of the new Immigration Rules and the start date for each change
• The transitional provisions, including how applications pending at commencement will be treated
• Which benefits will count as specified public funds, and the exemptions for vulnerable groups
• How the Article 31 safeguard for refugees will operate in practice
• How time already spent by refugees granted before Protection Work and Study is introduced will be treated
• The final highest talent group list, which is subject to a Migration Advisory Committee review
• The full impact assessment, which the government will publish as the reforms are implemented

We will update this article as each Statement of Changes is laid.

X Law is a Manchester based immigration advisory firm regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA). If you are unsure how Earned Settlement affects you, we can:

• review your eligibility for ILR under the current rules
• map out your likely settlement timeline under the new model
• prepare and submit your ILR application if you qualify now
• plan your route to British citizenship once you settle

Book a settlement review with our team, or contact us with your questions.

What is Earned Settlement?

Earned Settlement is the UK government’s new framework for indefinite leave to remain. The default qualifying period becomes ten years, with three or five year pathways for higher earners, eligible public service workers and people with a British connection, and a 20 year pathway for people with specified immigration breaches or recent use of public funds.

When does Earned Settlement start?

The changes will begin to be laid in the Immigration Rules from December 2026 and will be implemented over the course of 2027. Different changes may start on different dates. The current ILR rules apply until each change takes effect.

Can I still get ILR after five years?

Yes, if you earned at least £50,271 in three of the five years before applying, worked for five years in an eligible health or education occupation, or have a British connection. Care workers and certain health and education workers who entered or switched into their route before May 2025 may also keep a five year route if they meet its requirements.

Does Earned Settlement affect people already in the UK?

Yes, for most people. The government says applications are ordinarily decided under the rules in force at the date of decision, unless transitional provisions say otherwise. It estimates over 500,000 people will become eligible to settle later than under the current rules.

Does time on a Student or Graduate visa count towards ILR?

No. Under Earned Settlement, time on temporary routes such as Student and Graduate will not count towards settlement, and the Long Residence route will close.

What English level will I need for ILR?

B2, equivalent to A Level in a foreign language. Many settlement applications made from 26 March 2027 will need B2. You will also need to pass the Life in the UK test. Exemptions apply for children, people aged 65 and over, and people with a relevant physical or mental condition.

What if I have claimed benefits?

To use the three, five or ten year pathways, you must not have accessed specified public funds in the five years before applying. Otherwise you will need to complete 20 years on a qualifying route. Exemptions for vulnerable groups will be published before implementation.

Will these reforms affect ILR I already have?

No. The government has said these reforms will not remove settled status from anyone who already holds it. Existing powers to revoke ILR in limited circumstances, such as where it was obtained by deception, continue to apply.