Earned Settlement: What the New UK ILR Framework Means for Migrants and Employers

The UK Government has confirmed a major reform of the settlement system which is expected to fundamentally change how many migrants qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

On 2 November 2026, the Government confirmed its Earned Settlement policy following consultation. The central principle is that settlement should be earned through contribution, integration and compliance, rather than being based principally upon completing a fixed period of residence.

For many migrants, the headline change is that the standard starting point for settlement is intended to increase from five years to ten years. However, shorter pathways are intended to apply to certain higher earners, highly skilled migrants and specified public service workers, while significantly longer pathways may apply in cases involving immigration breaches.

For employers, the reforms could also materially change the immigration lifecycle of sponsored workers. If some employees need to remain sponsored for longer before obtaining ILR, businesses may need to consider the additional costs, compliance obligations, workforce-planning implications and retention issues associated with longer periods of sponsorship.

Importantly, the Government has confirmed the policy framework, rather than bringing every aspect of the new settlement system into force immediately. Detailed Immigration Rules, technical guidance and operational arrangements are still required.

What is Earned Settlement?

Settlement, usually granted in the form of Indefinite Leave to Remain, allows a person to remain permanently in the UK without the time restrictions associated with temporary immigration permission.

Under the new framework, simply completing a prescribed period of residence will not necessarily determine when an individual qualifies for ILR. Greater emphasis will instead be placed upon contribution, integration, conduct and immigration compliance.

The Government has identified mandatory requirements relating to:

• character and suitability;
• Government debt;
• English language;
• the Life in the UK Test; and
• sustained contribution.

This could result in people who originally entered the UK under similar immigration arrangements becoming eligible for settlement at different points.

How does Earned Settlement compare with the current position?

The following provides a broad comparison between the existing system and the Government’s announced Earned Settlement framework.

Important: the final column describes the announced policy framework. It should not be read as though every provision is already an operative requirement for ILR applications being made today.

The three-year pathway

The Government intends accelerated settlement to be available to those regarded as making some of the greatest economic contributions, alongside those entering through the UK’s highest-talent routes.

In her parliamentary statement, the Home Secretary referred to a three-year pathway for highest-rate taxpayers earning over £125,000.

The exact legal requirements, including how qualifying earnings will be calculated and evidenced, will ultimately need to be considered against the implementing Immigration Rules and technical guidance.

The five-year pathway

A five-year pathway is also intended to remain available for qualifying higher earners.

The Home Secretary referred to a five-year route for higher earners receiving salaries over £50,000.

Importantly, access to shorter settlement pathways will not be based solely upon salary. The Government also intends to recognise certain forms of public service, including eligible roles within healthcare and education. Doctors, nurses and teachers were specifically identified in the Home Secretary’s statement.

This demonstrates that contribution under Earned Settlement is intended to extend beyond purely economic contribution.

The standard ten-year pathway

For many migrants who do not qualify for an accelerated or protected pathway, the starting point will become ten years rather than five.

The Government’s consultation outcome expressly confirms that ten years will become the standard settlement qualifying period, subject to reductions and increases according to an individual’s circumstances.

This could represent a particularly significant change for Skilled Workers and others who have traditionally planned their immigration journey around obtaining settlement after five years.

However, whether an individual already in the UK will actually be required to complete ten years will depend upon the final Immigration Rules and any transitional arrangements applicable to their circumstances.

Mandatory requirements for settlement

Completing an applicable qualifying period will not, by itself, necessarily be sufficient to obtain ILR.

The Government has confirmed mandatory requirements concerning character and suitability, Government debt, English language, the Life in the UK Test and sustained contribution.

The Home Secretary has also identified criminality, insufficient English, unpaid debt to the taxpayer and the required National Insurance contribution history as matters relevant to settlement under the new framework.

The precise operation of these requirements, including applicable exemptions, will need to be considered against the detailed Immigration Rules and guidance.

Earnings are also expected to play an important part in determining access to accelerated settlement pathways.

However, employers and individuals should not assume that a worker’s salary immediately before an ILR application will necessarily establish their entitlement to a shorter pathway.

The detailed Immigration Rules will need to clarify:

• what income counts;
• the period over which earnings are assessed;
• how earnings must be evidenced;
• how periods of reduced earnings are treated; and
• what exemptions may apply.

For sponsored workers, maintaining accurate salary, payroll and employment records will therefore remain particularly important.

Care workers: important transitional arrangements

Care workers are one of the groups for whom the Government has announced specific transitional arrangements.

The Home Secretary announced protection for relevant care workers who joined before publication of the Immigration White Paper in May 2025. Qualifying workers meeting the applicable salary, employment and other requirements are intended to retain a five-year pathway to settlement.

The Home Secretary specifically referred to care workers earning £25,000 a year while working within the social care sector in accordance with the conditions of their visa.

The Government has also announced arrangements for certain workers within the relevant cohort who do not initially qualify for settlement. They are intended to have access to a further five-year care visa without being tied to their existing employer, providing an opportunity to meet the applicable requirements subsequently.

Care-sector employers should therefore be particularly careful about assuming that all sponsored care workers will have the same settlement timetable.

Immigration breaches could substantially delay settlement

Immigration compliance is central to the Earned Settlement model.

The Home Secretary has stated that an immigration breach will push the settlement period to 20 years.

The eventual legal effect will depend upon the precise drafting of the Immigration Rules, including how a relevant immigration breach is defined and how historic breaches are treated.

Nevertheless, immigration history could become even more significant when assessing an individual’s future route towards ILR.

What about public funds?

The new framework is also intended to attach consequences to reliance upon public funds.

The Home Secretary stated that those who have claimed benefits will have to complete five continuous years without relying on the state before applying for settlement.

The detailed Immigration Rules will be particularly important in establishing precisely what forms of support are covered and how the requirement applies in individual circumstances.

What about families?

The Government’s final policy contains provisions relating to families, but the detailed interaction between the settlement position of a principal applicant, their partner and their children will need to be considered against the implementing Immigration Rules.

Families should therefore not assume that the settlement eligibility of one member will automatically determine the position of everybody else.

Where families are planning their long-term future in the UK, settlement planning may increasingly need to consider the family as a whole rather than examining each visa expiry date in isolation.

What about refugees?

The Government has also announced distinct settlement arrangements for refugees.

The Home Secretary stated that those arriving through new safe and legal routes will have a five-year pathway to settlement. The standard qualifying period for refugees who have not arrived through a safe and legal route is intended to be 20 years, with an additional ten years where the person entered by an illegal method.

The Government also intends that work or study may provide a mechanism through which some people within the protection system can earn settlement earlier.

These represent substantial changes, and the precise legal position will depend upon the implementing Immigration Rules.

What does Earned Settlement mean for people already in the UK?

This is likely to be one of the most important questions for existing visa holders.

The Government has announced targeted transitional arrangements for certain groups, including qualifying care workers and some healthcare and education workers.

The Home Secretary has also stated that settlement rules are determined when the settlement decision is made rather than simply by reference to the rules that existed when someone originally arrived in the UK.

People currently progressing towards ILR should therefore not assume either that:

• they are guaranteed to retain an anticipated five-year route simply because this was the position when they entered the UK; or
• they will automatically be moved onto the new ten-year pathway.

Their immigration route, residence, contribution, immigration history and any applicable transitional provisions will all need to be considered under the final legal framework.

What should businesses and sponsor licence holders do now?

The proposed changes are not simply an issue for individual migrants. They could have important implications for employers that recruit, sponsor and retain overseas workers.

A longer period before settlement could mean that some workers require sponsorship for substantially longer than originally anticipated.

This could affect immigration costs, HR administration, recruitment, retention and sponsor licence compliance.

Businesses can therefore sensibly begin reviewing their sponsored workforce before the detailed Immigration Rules are introduced, while recognising that any assessment made at this stage remains provisional.

1.Review Your Sponsored Workforce and Identify Workers Approaching ILR

Employers should consider identifying workers potentially affected by the reforms.

A workforce review could record:

• the employee’s immigration route;
• the date they entered or switched into the relevant route;
• their current visa expiry date;
• their anticipated settlement date under the existing rules;
• occupation;
• current salary;
• relevant salary history; and
• whether announced transitional protection might potentially apply.

Particular attention should be given to employees who are already approaching settlement or the expiry of their current immigration permission.

Employees undertaking similar roles could ultimately have different settlement dates because their immigration history, earnings or transitional position may differ.

Employers should therefore avoid applying a single assumed settlement date across their entire sponsored workforce.

2. Budget for potentially longer sponsorship

If some employees ultimately need to remain sponsored for longer, further immigration applications could potentially be required.

Depending upon the circumstances, employers may therefore need to consider provision for additional:

• Certificates of Sponsorship;
• Immigration Skills Charge liabilities where applicable;
• sponsorship administration;
• visa application costs where the employer has agreed to meet them; and
• professional fees.

Employees and their dependant family members could also potentially face additional application and Immigration Health Surcharge costs where applicable.

Businesses should review their contracts, offer letters and immigration policies to establish precisely which immigration costs they have agreed to fund.

Particular care should be taken with repayment clauses and clawback arrangements. Sponsors should ensure that costs which must be borne by the sponsor under the sponsorship framework are not improperly passed to sponsored workers.

3. Review salary and payroll and Sponsor Licence compliance

Salary is likely to assume greater importance under Earned Settlement because the Government intends higher economic contribution to provide access to shorter settlement pathways.

Employers should therefore ensure that HR, payroll and sponsorship records provide a consistent and accurate picture of a sponsored employee’s employment.

This should include checking:

• right-to-work records;
• employee contact details;
• sponsored salary and working hours;
• job descriptions and duties;
• work locations;
• absence and employment records;
• record-keeping arrangements; and
• whether relevant changes have been reported where required.

Where discrepancies are identified between payroll information and sponsorship records, they should be investigated rather than left until the employee approaches an extension or settlement application.

4. Care-sector employers should review their workforce carefully

Care-sector sponsors should pay particular attention to the announced transitional arrangements.

Relevant dates of entry or switching, salary, sponsored role, employment history and compliance with immigration conditions could become important when determining whether a worker benefits from the proposed five-year protection.

Care providers should therefore identify potentially affected workers now, while reserving any final assessment until the detailed Immigration Rules have been published.

5. Consider recruitment and retention

The reforms may also have broader workforce implications.

Once a sponsored employee obtains ILR, their continued employment is no longer dependent upon Skilled Worker sponsorship. Settlement consequently gives the worker considerably greater flexibility in the labour market.

Employers with substantial sponsored workforces should therefore consider how changing settlement timescales might affect recruitment and retention.

Immigration support may increasingly need to be considered alongside salary, career progression, training and working conditions as part of an employer’s wider retention strategy.

6. Be careful about promising settlement during recruitment

Recruitment teams should review how immigration pathways are described to prospective overseas employees.

Employers should avoid guaranteeing that sponsorship will result in ILR after a particular number of years.

A safer approach is to explain what immigration assistance and sponsorship the organisation intends to provide while making clear that eligibility for settlement is determined by the immigration law and Immigration Rules applicable to the individual at the relevant time.

Are the Earned Settlement changes already law?

The Government’s announcement of its Earned Settlement policy framework should not be confused with every element of that framework already operating as an Immigration Rule.

The Government has confirmed the direction and structure of the policy, but its consultation outcome states that the next stage is to translate the framework into detailed rules and operational arrangements. Further technical guidance is also expected.

Migrants and employers should therefore distinguish between:

1. the Government’s confirmed policy framework;
2. the Immigration Rules and guidance implementing that framework; and
3. the commencement and transitional provisions determining how the new requirements apply to individual cases.

Anyone considering an ILR application now should therefore consider the Immigration Rules applicable to their circumstances rather than simply applying future three, five, ten or twenty-year periods to their case.

What should migrants do now?

Migrants already living in the UK should consider:

• their current immigration route;
• how much qualifying residence they have accumulated;
• when their existing permission expires;
• whether they may become eligible for ILR under the existing Immigration Rules;
• their salary and employment history;
• whether announced transitional protection could potentially apply;
• their previous immigration and compliance history; and
• the position of their partner and children.

Those approaching settlement should take particular care before changing immigration category, delaying an application or taking another step which could affect their route towards ILR.

How Ison Harrison can help

The proposed Earned Settlement reforms could have significant implications for migrants planning their future in the UK and employers responsible for sponsoring overseas workers.

Although the detailed Immigration Rules are still awaited, understanding how the proposed changes may affect individual circumstances is an important part of planning ahead.

At Ison Harrison, our immigration solicitors advise individuals on Indefinite Leave to Remain applications and support businesses with sponsor licence compliance and Skilled Worker sponsorship.

If you are concerned about how the proposed changes could affect your settlement plans or your sponsored workforce, contact our immigration team for advice.