Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has confirmed the government’s final plans for how long people will have to wait before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Speaking in the Commons on 2 November 2026, she said settlement will no longer be almost automatic after five years. From now on it will be earned, based on contribution and character. The standard qualifying period for most people is moving from five years to 10 years.
This follows the government’s initial proposals to introduce earned settlement in November 2025, which we covered here.
Written by Mahfuz Ahmed, Immigration Supervisor
The main routes are now:
- Three years: people earning more than £125,000 a year, and those on the highest-skilled routes such as Global Talent and Innovator Founder.
- Five years: workers earning more than £50,000 a year, certain public service workers (including doctors, nurses and teachers), and refugees who arrived through safe and legal routes.
- Ten years: the new default for everyone else, including those earning less than £50,000.
- Longer periods: people who have committed immigration breaches can face waits of 20 years. Those who arrived by small boat face particularly long waits (20 years if working or studying, longer if not).
Benefits and public funds
Anyone who has claimed benefits faces an additional restriction. Those seeking to qualify on the three, five or ten year pathways must not have accessed specified public funds in the five years immediately before they apply for settlement. If they have claimed benefits more recently, or continue to claim, they will instead need to complete 20 years on a qualifying route before they can settle.
There is also a hard requirement that applicants must have no unpaid debt to the taxpayer (including tax, National Insurance or NHS debts). This sits alongside the other mandatory conditions that apply to everyone: a clean criminal record, English to a high standard, and a sustained record of National Insurance contributions.
Care workers
There is a specific transitional arrangement for care workers. Those who joined the Health and Care route (or switched into it) before the Immigration White Paper was published in May 2025, and who have earned at least £25,000 a year in sponsored care work and met their visa conditions, will still be able to apply after five years.
Those who arrived before May 2025 but did not fully meet their visa conditions will be offered a second chance: a further five-year care visa (not tied to their previous employer). They can then apply for settlement at the end of that period. Care workers who arrived after May 2025 fall under the new 10-year default unless they qualify for a faster route.
Similar transitional protection applies to certain lower-paid public sector workers in healthcare and education (such as nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants) who were already here before May 2025.
Our comments
The big shift is the move to a 10-year default for most people already in the UK. The rules that will apply are those in force when a settlement decision is made, not when the person first arrived. That means many people who came expecting to settle after five years will now face a longer wait.
The three-year and five-year routes for higher earners and certain public service workers are useful, but the thresholds are high. For most clients on standard Skilled Worker visas, the realistic planning assumption is now 10 years unless they can show they fall into one of the accelerated categories.
The benefits rule is significant. Even people who would otherwise qualify on a three-, five- or ten-year route will need five continuous years without claiming specified public funds before they can apply. Those who have claimed more recently will be pushed to the 20-year route. Combined with the requirement of no unpaid debt to the taxpayer, this will catch some people who have not previously focused on their benefits history.
The care worker announcement is welcome for those who arrived before May 2025 and have been working and earning at the required level. It does not protect everyone on the route, and it does not help those who arrived later. Anyone in that group will still need to meet the general character requirements, including the benefits condition.
None of this is law yet. The policy still needs to be set out in a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules. Until that happens, the current five-year rules remain in force. Anyone approaching the five-year mark should check their position carefully, including any history of claiming public funds and keep an eye on the rules changes when they are published.
Contact Lisa’s Law here to get help with settlement, or find out more about our work visa services here.
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