The Home Office’s November 2025 Consultation on Earned Settlement

In late 2025, the UK government released a statement and accompanying consultation on earned settlement, which proposes to extend the current 5-year route to settlement to 10 years for many immigration routes, with some opportunities for reduction. This proposed new ‘earned settlement’ approach hopes to ensure that individuals who are granted settlement and citizenship are ‘well integrated, economically self-sufficient, and committed to the communities they join, thereby strengthening social cohesion and public confidence in immigration system’.

The consultation closes at 23:59 on 12 February 2026 and asks for views on the proposed extensions to the baseline qualifying period. Any enacted changes will not impact:

• Grants of settlement related to the EU Settlement Scheme
• Grants of settlement related to the Windrush Scheme
• Those who have already been granted settled status

Under the current immigration system, in many immigration routes, individuals qualify for settlement 5 years after their arrival. The number of settlement grants is set to significantly increase in the years 2026-2030 with 1.6 million predicted grants, with an expected peak of 450,000 grants of settlement in 2028. It is believed that this increase will be the result of  individuals seeking settlement from the Health and Care visa route, which is set to make up 47% of settlement grants in 2028, along with other lower skilled migration work routes.

Main Proposals

The Home Office proposes that the default qualifying baseline for settlement should be increased from 5 years to 10 years. Individuals will have the opportunity to reduce this 10-year period based on the contributions they make to the UK economy and society, and these contributions will be based on 4 core pillars:

• Character: this will include criminal record, compliance with immigration requirements and considerations relating to the public good. It will be mandatory to meet this requirement and there will be no opportunity to trade this with other considerations.
• Integration: Individuals must be able to demonstrate ‘meaningful engagement with British society’.
• Contribution: Individuals who have made a ‘sustained and measurable’ economic contribution will be rewarded by a reduced path to settlement.
• Residence: Lawful, continuous residence will be recognised but residence alone would not normally mean an individual qualifies for settlement.

The minimum requirements for settlement include 10 years of lawful, continuous residence; having no criminal convictions, litigation, NHS tax or government debt (suitability); having competency B2 level of English Language and passing the Life in the UK test (integration); and annual earnings over £12,570 for a minimum of 3-5 years (contribution).

Opportunities to reduce the 10-year qualifying period

Integration:

• 1 year reduction for competency in English Language at C1 Level under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, instead of a B2 Level.

Contribution:

• 7-year reduction for earning a taxable income of £125,140 for 3 years immediately before applying for settlement.
• 5-year reduction for earning a taxable income of £50,270 for 3 years immediately before applying for settlement.
• 5-year reduction for being employed in a specific public service occupation for 5 years.
• 3–5-year reduction for working in the community, including volunteering

Entry and residence:

• 5-year reduction for holding permission as the parent, partner or child of a British citizen and meeting core family requirements. This is not subject to consultation.
• 5-year reduction for holding permission granted under the British National Overseas route. This is not subject to consultation.
• 7-year reduction for 3 years of continuous residence under a Global Talent worker or Innovator Founder routes.
• 5-year reduction for family members of individuals on the Global Talent or Innovator Founder route.
• A reduction for specific vulnerable groups is subject to consultation.

Only one of the considerations will apply on a single application and this will be the consideration that grants the largest reduction. Multiple reductions cannot be combined.

Penalties to extend the baseline qualifying period

Contribution:

• 5-year increase for being in receipt of public funds for less than 12 months during route to settlement.
• 10-year increase for being in receipt of public funds for more than 12 months during route to settlement.

Entry and residence:

• Up to 20-year increase for arriving in the UK illegally, e.g. small boat/clandestine.
• Up to 20-year increase for entering the UK on a visit visa.
• Up to 20-year increase for overstaying for 6 months or more.

Any increase to the baseline 10-year route to settlement will take precedence over any reduction.

Examples

1. Individuals on the Global Talent or Innovator Founder route may be granted settlement in 3 years, and their family members in 5 years.
2. A Skilled Worker who earns more than £50,270 for at least 3 years may be granted settlement in 5 years.
3. A Skilled Worker who earns at least £125,140 for at least 3 years may be granted settlement in 3 years.
4. An applicant who overstayed on a visit visa for more than 6 months but has a competency in English language at C1 Level or works in the community may have to wait 30 years to be granted settled status under the consultation proposals. This is because the increases take precedence.

Other routes and individuals

The consultation includes questions in relation to dependants and children. For instance, it is expected that those who were granted permission to enter or remain as a dependant can be granted settlement at the same time as their parent, even where they are over the age of 18. However, an age limit is likely to be introduced for children, meaning from that age, a child would have to apply for settlement in their own right.

No change has been proposed to the HM Armed Forces route and the consultation is looking into pathways for vulnerable groups and compassionate circumstances, along with arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement under Transitional Arrangements, so further information about these routes will follow after the consultation.

A starting point of a 20-year qualifying period for refugees has been suggested, with those who move onto new core protection work and study routes able to earn a reduction, and refugees relocated to the UK through resettlement schemes possibly starting at a qualifying period of 10 years.

Conclusion / What can we do?

The consultation seeks views on whether the proposed baseline qualifying period should be increased, and whether the suggested lengths of time to reduce or extend the qualifying period should be increased or decreased. Whilst the proposals are not law, we should expect an increase to the baseline qualifying period for settlement to be introduced – this will help to avoid the 2028 peak in settlement grants, and ensure applicants meet the minimum requirements of suitability, integration and contribution. These changes will impact an exceptionally high number of migrants in the UK, and whilst changes of this nature historically only impact new applicants applying for permission to remain, the information released to date confirms that the proposed changed will apply to everyone who doesn’t already hold indefinite leave to remain:

“Crucially, for these and every other group mentioned here, we propose to apply these changes to everyone in the country today who has not already received indefinite leave to remain. This would mean that those who are due to reach settlement in the coming months and years would be subject to the new requirements for earned settlement, as soon as our immigration rules have changed.”

The confirmed changes to settlement routes are expected in Spring 2026.

As mentioned above, the consultation on the current settlement system closes at 11:59pm on 12 February 2026. Individuals and organisations can respond to the consultation online here: Earned settlement - GOV.UK, and a link to the statement and consultation paper can be accessed here: Home Office consultation template. We would encourage both employers and individuals to respond to the survey.