Key facts
- Under the 10-year pathway, applicants must have earned at least £12,571 for five of the seven years before settlement.
- Care workers earning at least £25,000 a year who arrived before May 2025 would qualify after five years.
- Migrants earning over £125,141 a year, and Global Talent or Innovator Founder visa holders, would qualify after three years.
- Migrants who claimed certain benefits or breached immigration rules would settle only after at least 20 years.
- Refugees arriving by small boat or another illegal route would wait 20 years if working or studying, 30 years if not.
- The changes would apply to migrants already in the UK, but not those already granted settlement.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out plans to overhaul immigration rules in the House of Commons, including doubling the standard time migrants must live in the UK to qualify for permanent settlement from five to 10 years. Proposals to change the requirements were first outlined in detail in November 2025, when Mahmood was home secretary in Sir Keir Starmer's government.
Indefinite leave to remain, also known as settlement, gives someone the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they like, and people with it can apply for benefits if eligible. Under the 10-year pathway, applicants must have earned at least £12,571 for five of the seven years immediately before settlement.
A five-year qualifying period would apply to people who earned at least £50,271 for three of five years before applying, care workers earning at least £25,000 a year while meeting visa conditions who arrived before May 2025, skilled public service workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers, and other health and education workers below that skill level who arrived before May 2025. People from Hong Kong holding British National (Overseas) status would also qualify after five years.
Migrants earning over £125,141 a year, and highly skilled migrants such as those on Global Talent or Innovator Founder visas, would qualify after three years. Those who claimed certain benefits or breached immigration rules would settle only after at least 20 years. Applicants must also have no criminal record, speak English to a high standard, owe no debt to the taxpayer and earn at least £12,571 a year for at least three years.
Refugees who arrived through an official government scheme would qualify after five years. Other refugees would wait 10 years and must work or study, or 20 years if they do neither. Refugees who arrived by small boat or another illegal route would wait 20 years if they work or study and 30 years if they do not.
The changes would apply to migrants already in the UK but not to those already granted settlement. A partner arriving with someone who then applies for settlement could settle at the same time if they meet the requirements, while a partner joining later would need to complete the same residence period. Eligible couples could combine earnings against a household income threshold of £25,142. Children under 18 could settle with their parents, exempt from the income, government debt, English language and Life in the UK test requirements but still subject to suitability and criminality rules.