For more than a decade, the standard road to settling in the United Kingdom was predictable: five years on a qualifying visa, then Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). In November 2026 the Home Office confirmed that this model is being replaced by what it calls earned settlement. The default qualifying period doubles to ten years, and shorter routes become available only to those who meet specific earnings and contribution tests.
Implementation is expected to begin in December 2026 and roll out through 2027. The policy has been set, but the detailed Immigration Rules and guidance are still to be published, so some points below may be refined. Here is what is known today, and what it means in practice.
From five years to ten: the new baseline
Under earned settlement, the standard qualifying period for ILR becomes ten years of lawful residence. The separate ten-year Long Residence route, which until now offered a fallback for people who had moved between visa categories, will close.
Time spent on certain routes will no longer count towards settlement at all. These are the Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual and Global Business Mobility routes. Someone who studied in the UK for three years, spent two years on the Graduate visa and then moved to a Skilled Worker visa would, under the new framework, start their settlement clock only on the Skilled Worker visa.
The shorter, earnings-based pathways
The ten-year baseline can be reduced for people with sustained, taxable earnings in the UK. As announced, the pathways are:
- Three years of residence for those earning at least £125,141 a year, with qualifying earnings in three of the preceding four years.
- Five years of residence for those earning at least £50,271 a year, with qualifying earnings in three of the preceding five years.
- Ten years of residence for those earning at least £12,571 a year, with qualifying earnings in five of the preceding seven years.
These thresholds track the income tax bands, which is deliberate: the government's stated logic is that settlement should reflect a person's economic contribution over time, not simply the passage of time.
The conditions every applicant must meet
Whatever the pathway, several requirements apply across the board:
- English at B2 level, up from B1 under the current rules, and a pass in the Life in the UK test, subject to exemptions.
- No UK criminal record as an adult. Relevant overseas convictions are also taken into account.
- No outstanding debts to the government, including unpaid tax and National Insurance.
- No specified immigration breaches as an adult. An applicant who has overstayed, for example, is moved to a twenty-year pathway.
- Receiving specified public funds in the five years before applying may rule out the shorter pathways. The exemptions have not yet been detailed.
Partners and children
Couples will be able to combine their earnings to meet a household minimum of £25,142. Partners who arrive together can settle together if they qualify; a partner who joins later must complete the full qualifying period in their own right.
Children generally settle with their parents. Young adults aged 18 to 24 who keep their status as dependent children will not face an individual earnings test, although the other adult requirements apply. From the age of 25, dependants will generally need to qualify on their own or move to a route of their own.
What about people already in the UK?
This is the question we hear most, and the honest answer is that there is no blanket protection. The government has not announced a general exemption for people who are already on a five-year route. The one transitional measure confirmed so far concerns Skilled Workers who entered before April 2024 in roles below degree level: they can keep extending on their existing terms until 2035 (previously 2030), and can then apply through the ten-year route.
Until the rules are published, nobody can say with certainty how a given person's existing residence will be treated. What you can do now is make sure your own record is clean and complete.
What to do now
- Map your residence history. List every visa you have held in the UK, with dates. Identify any periods on the Student, Graduate, HPI or Global Business Mobility routes, which may no longer count.
- Gather your earnings evidence. P60s, payslips and HMRC records for every tax year. Under earned settlement, consistent taxable income becomes evidence in itself.
- Check your English. If your existing certificate is at B1, plan for a B2 test.
- Settle any debts with HMRC or other government bodies, and keep proof.
- Avoid gaps in status. Apply for extensions well before your visa expires. An overstay, even a short one, now carries a much heavier cost.
How earned settlement changes route planning
For people still choosing how to come to the UK, the reform shifts the calculation. Routes that once led to settlement in five years may now lead there in ten, unless earnings are high enough. The Global Talent route and the higher earnings pathways become more valuable. For families, the timing of each person's arrival now matters, since a partner joining later restarts the clock.
How we help
We review UK residence histories line by line, identify which periods are likely to count under the new framework, and build a realistic settlement plan around the route you hold today. If you are planning a move to the UK, we compare routes not only on how quickly they get you in, but on how and when they get you to settlement. We will update this article as soon as the Home Office publishes the detailed rules.