If you are approaching settlement in the UK, asking when your five years finish may no longer tell the whole story. On 2 November 2026, the government announced its final Earned Settlement policy framework: a standard 10-year period, with different pathways depending on earnings, occupation, family connections and immigration history.
As at 9 November 2026, the announcement does not mean that every new requirement is already in force. Unless stated otherwise, the changes below describe the announced framework; current applications remain subject to the Immigration Rules and relevant transitional provisions. These are UK-wide changes. The main source is the Home Office’s official response published on 2 November.
When will the new system begin?
The Home Secretary said that rule changes would begin to be laid before Parliament from December 2026, with implementation proceeding in stages from 2027. A single commencement date has not been announced for every route. The parliamentary timetable should not be read as “everyone moves to 10 years on 1 January”.
The current Skilled Worker rules still contain a five-year qualifying period, while Long Residence still provides a conditional 10-year pathway. Completing the residence period alone does not automatically confer ILR. The announcement concerns future eligibility for settlement; ILR and British citizenship remain separate statuses.
Stronger mandatory requirements
The framework requires suitability and good character, no outstanding government debt, English language ability, the Life in the UK test and sustained contribution. High earnings will not compensate for failing a mandatory requirement.
The announced policy is that an adult applicant with a UK criminal record will be refused settlement. The scope extends beyond imprisonment to specified cautions, court-imposed fines and other criminal disposals. Not every civil or parking penalty constitutes a criminal record. Overseas convictions will be assessed against whether the conduct would also be criminal in the UK, with discretion for differences between legal systems. Discretion will remain for offences committed as a child, taking account of the circumstances and seriousness.
The debt requirement covers NHS debts, unpaid tax and National Insurance contributions, and litigation debts owed to the Home Office. It should not be confused with every private loan or credit-card balance. Where asylum-support costs must be repaid, separate provision allows compliance with an agreed repayment plan. The character chapter explains these distinctions.
Three, five or 10 years: how long must earnings be demonstrated?
The announced earnings-based pathways are:
- Three years: Annual earnings of at least £125,141 in three of the four years immediately before applying.
- Five years: Annual earnings of at least £50,271 in three of the preceding five years.
- The standard 10 years: Annual earnings of at least £12,571 in five of the preceding seven years. The same earnings period is specified for the general 20-year pathway; refugee pathways have separate provisions.
Although the document introduces the general minimum contribution requirement as at least three years, its detailed rule for the standard 10-year pathway is five out of seven years. Three years of earnings should therefore not be treated as sufficient for that pathway. Thresholds will remain linked to the relevant tax thresholds.
This “best years” approach allows room for lower earnings during maternity or parental leave, caring responsibilities and illness. Exemptions are envisaged for children, people aged 65 or over, and those unable to meet the requirement because of a physical or mental condition.
Technical rules on income types and evidence are not yet complete. Company turnover should not be treated as personal earnings, salary and dividends should not automatically be combined, and a pay rise this year will not by itself establish eligibility. Route and residence requirements must also be met. The earnings assessment sets out the relevant periods together.
Shorter pathways beyond salary
Five years in specified health and education occupations covered by national pay scales will provide a five-year pathway, subject to the other requirements. Doctors and specified nursing and teaching occupations are examples; not every public-sector or NHS employee will qualify automatically. The occupation list appears in Annex C of the official response.
A five-year pathway will also remain for eligible partners, parents and children of British citizens, and qualifying Commonwealth citizens on the UK Ancestry route. This does not extend the same exception to every partner of a settled person.
A three-year option is included for specified high-talent categories, including Global Talent and Innovator Founder. However, the “Highest Talent” category carries a review qualification pending Migration Advisory Committee advice. The most recent permission also matters when relying on those routes for accelerated settlement; the document does not promise automatic three-year settlement to every visa holder.
Volunteering and C1 English will not provide additional reductions. These were options in the earlier consultation which were not adopted in the final model.
English and the Life in the UK test
The framework’s standard English level is B2. Relevant age and health exemptions remain, while the Life in the UK test continues and its content is being reviewed.
A separate date matters here: for relevant existing routes, including Skilled Worker and Long Residence, B2 is already written into the rules for applications on or after 26 March 2027. That does not mean the entire Earned Settlement framework starts on that date. Refugees under the UK Resettlement Scheme have different English and test arrangements, explained below.
Public funds and immigration breaches
Applicants using a three, five or 10-year pathway will be expected not to have accessed specified public funds during the preceding five years. If access continues, a 20-year pathway on a qualifying route is envisaged, subject to the other requirements. The benefits to be counted and safeguards for vulnerable groups will be clarified before implementation.
Public funds refers to specified benefits in the official definition, not every public service. The government also confirmed in Parliament that it is not removing benefits eligibility after ILR; the benefit’s own eligibility requirements still apply.
Specified immigration breaches committed as an adult will lead to a 20-year pathway. Examples include overstaying, breaching a condition of permission, deception in an application and frustrating immigration controls; detailed definitions will appear in the rules. Higher earnings will not remove that consequence. A further 10-year period is announced for illegal entry, subject to important distinctions for childhood entry and Refugee Convention Article 31 protection discussed below.
Long Residence, Student and Graduate time
One of the most significant changes is the planned closure of the separate 10-year Long Residence route. Qualifying Student and Graduate time can currently count under that route, but temporary-route residence will not build towards settlement under the new model.
The excluded list comprises Visit, Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual, Global Business Mobility, Temporary Worker, Youth Mobility, Seasonal Worker, Overseas Domestic Worker and Ukraine routes. People granted Leave Outside the Rules will receive further consideration.
Specified longer-term work, talent and family permissions, and protection pathways, will count; however, not every route will qualify for every accelerated pathway. Human-rights-based Family and Private Life routes will not become three or five-year routes simply because someone earns more. Protection or human-rights residence will not be combined with work or family residence; a move between those categories will start the new pathway’s qualifying period.
Long Residence has not closed today. Until the closure date and detailed arrangements for existing and pending cases are published, it would be wrong to conclude that every past year as a student has definitely been lost. The residence decision must be read alongside the current rules.
Partners and children: can families settle together?
The government has moved away from requiring every partner to follow an entirely independent earnings and settlement pathway. Eligible couples will be able to meet the minimum contribution requirement through household earnings of £25,142; one partner may earn the full amount. The relationship must be genuine and subsisting, and only one person may rely on the other’s income. This does not permit couples to pool earnings automatically to meet the higher thresholds for accelerated three or five-year settlement.
Eligible partners arriving together will be able to settle together. A partner arriving later must complete their own qualifying residence period of the same length. For example, someone joining a partner on a five-year pathway two years later would normally complete their own five years later.
Children under 18 will retain exemptions from earnings, government-debt, English and test requirements, while suitability checks remain. Those aged 18–24 who retain child-dependant status will be able to settle with their family without an individual earnings requirement, subject to the other adult requirements. Those aged 25 or over when the family becomes eligible will be expected to qualify independently or move to an appropriate route in their own right. This does not mean automatic visa cancellation on a 25th birthday; safeguards and individual circumstances matter. The dependants chapter sets out the distinctions.
Existing residents and care workers
The government has not announced protection of the old five-year period for everyone already in the UK. However, the general 15-year pathway previously proposed for occupations below RQF6 has been dropped; the standard 10 years and relevant accelerated pathways will apply instead.
A targeted transition covers care workers who entered or switched into the route before publication of the May 2025 Immigration White Paper. Those meeting the £25,000 annual salary, genuine sponsored employment and relevant route requirements will retain a five-year pathway. Strengthened mandatory requirements will also apply.
People in this cohort who do not qualify after five years will be able to apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa, restricted to genuine care work. No recourse to public funds will continue. Being able to leave an old employer does not mean that sponsorship requirements disappear.
From 1 February 2027, care workers within the transitional arrangements who lose their jobs because their sponsor’s licence is revoked are to receive 120 days to secure a job offer and a further 60 days to resolve their visa and employment position. Failure to meet those conditions may lead to curtailment and the requirement to leave the UK.
A one-off five-year transition also covers specified health and education workers below RQF6 on national pay scales who arrived before the White Paper. The earlier salary arrangements for the relevant pre-April 2024 Skilled Worker cohort will also be extended for visa extensions until 2035. That last concession does not guarantee five-year ILR for everyone. The transitional arrangements chapter explains these distinct groups.
ECAA, EUSS and other protected groups
Turkish businesspeople and workers under ECAA, EUSS, Tier 1 Investor, pre-2012 Overseas Domestic Worker and Calais/Section 67 arrangements are listed as separate statutory or legacy routes unaffected by the Earned Settlement reforms. This is route-specific protection, not a general exception for every Turkish national.
The five-year BN(O) pathway, immediate settlement for eligible Afghan scheme applicants, legacy safe and legal arrangements and Windrush status confirmations will remain. HM Armed Forces arrangements continue to recognise at least four years’ reckonable service, with five years’ continuous residence for eligible partners and children. Strengthened general standards may still matter for these groups, depending on the route and applicable exemptions.
Immediate settlement arrangements for eligible bereaved partners and victims of domestic abuse will also continue, alongside separate arrangements for children in local authority care, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and specified children and young people who have grown up in the UK. Detailed guidance for vulnerable groups is expected in 2027.
A separate model for refugees
Refugees admitted through designated safe and legal routes will have a five-year pathway and an exemption from the requirement to have avoided public funds for the preceding five years. UK Resettlement Scheme refugees will need A2 English, with an exemption from Life in the UK until a suitable A2-level test is available. Other designated routes require B2. Entering legally on an ordinary visa and later claiming asylum will not itself put someone in this five-year group.
For people granted protection following an asylum claim in the UK, Core Protection will normally involve 20 years. Moving into sustained work, education or training through Protection Work and Study will provide a 10-year period on that route; previous Core Protection time will not automatically count. Those demonstrating contribution through work must earn £12,571 annually in three qualifying years.
Illegal entry as an adult will ordinarily add 10 years, potentially producing 20 or 30-year protection pathways. That additional period will not apply where Refugee Convention Article 31 protection applies, and childhood entry will not be treated in the same way as adult entry.
For relevant refugees who claimed asylum before 2 March 2026 and move to Core Protection, time with refugee status will count. How earlier time will transfer for people granted protection before Protection Work and Study begins is still to be explained. Where asylum-support repayment is required, the applicant must repay the amount or maintain an agreed repayment plan. The refugees chapter contains the specific requirements and safeguards.
What preparation makes sense now?
Review your visa types and start dates, each partner’s and child’s residence history, earnings records, gaps in permission and any government debts together. Looking only at today’s salary or total years in the UK will give an incomplete picture. Do not assume a visa switch or an income arrangement will secure a particular result before the detailed income rules, transitions and commencement dates are available.
Our earlier ILR article explains the basic distinction between the five and 10-year pathways. To discuss the records needed for your own route and family history, contact Leon Advisers: visa@leonadvisers.com · +44 7561 523 434.
Sources checked: 9 November 2026. This is general information; individual eligibility must be assessed against the applicable rules and transitional provisions. Home Office CP1707, © Crown copyright 2026, is summarised with attribution under the Open Government Licence v3.0.