£125,141 gets you three years, £12,571 gets you ten: the new map for indefinite leave to remain
What happened
On 2 November 2026 the government confirmed how it will change indefinite leave to remain - usually shortened to ILR, and often called settlement. It is the status that lets someone live in the UK permanently, without a visa to renew. At the moment most people can apply after five years. Under the new system, called Earned Settlement, ten years becomes the starting point, with faster routes for some and slower ones for others. The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, set it out in a statement to Parliament. The full detail is in a 62-page command paper, 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation', numbered CP 1707. The qualifying periods are tied to earnings, and the earnings figures are tied to income tax thresholds. **Three years** for the highest economic contributors: at least £125,141 a year, matching the additional rate of income tax. Also open to those qualifying through the Highest Talent Group. **Five years** for higher earners on at least £50,271, the higher rate threshold. Also for people with five years in an eligible public service occupation - the examples given include doctors, nurses and teachers - and for people with a British connection. **Ten years** as the default for everyone else, requiring at least £12,571, matching the basic rate threshold. **Twenty years** for people whose immigration non-compliance, or access to public funds, rules out an earlier route. Five things are mandatory on every route, and the paper is explicit that they cannot be offset by higher earnings or public service: good character and suitability; no outstanding government debt; strong English at B2, described as the equivalent of A level in a foreign language; a pass in the Life in the UK test; and sustained contribution to the UK. The government says settled status will never be taken from anyone who already holds it, and that nobody will be forced to leave.
Why this matters
Settlement is the point at which someone stops living on renewals. Before ILR, life runs in visa-length chunks. Fees come round again. Documents have to be gathered again. A job change or an illness can put the whole thing at risk. Many visas carry a condition called no recourse to public funds, meaning no access to most benefits however bad things get. After ILR, that stops. It is also normally the step before applying for citizenship. So moving the default from five years to ten does not just add paperwork. It doubles the time a family spends in that conditional state - paying for renewals, without a safety net, and unable to plan with much confidence. The government's own analysis puts a number on the scale. The Home Office estimates that without these changes, between 1.3 million and 2.2 million people would have settled in the UK between 2026 and 2030, with a central estimate of 1.9 million. Under Earned Settlement it says over 500,000 people will become eligible to settle later than they otherwise would have, bringing that central estimate down to 1.4 million. The other reason this matters locally is the care workforce. Around 250,000 people, plus dependants, came to the UK on the social care route or switched into it between 2022 and 2025. Health and social care in this country runs on those people, and a large share of them are directly affected.
What the evidence actually says
Several details are easy to get wrong, and the precise version matters when someone's status depends on it. **The earnings tests are not single-year tests.** The paper sets out a 'best years' approach, so maternity leave, caring responsibilities or illness do not automatically push someone onto a longer route. The three-year path needs £125,141 in three of the four years before applying; the five-year path, £50,271 in three of five; the ten-year path, £12,571 in five of the previous seven. **There are exemptions from the earnings requirement:** children, people aged 65 and over, and people unable to meet it because of a physical or mental condition. The thresholds stay linked to income tax thresholds, so they move when those move. **Some groups keep their current route:** Hong Kong British National (Overseas) status holders, armed forces members, people with a British connection, and legacy routes including Windrush. **Care workers have a one-off transitional arrangement with a cut-off date.** Those who entered or switched into the route before the Immigration White Paper of May 2025 keep the five-year period, if they meet the £25,000 salary, sponsorship and employment requirements plus the new mandatory ones. The paper explains the cut-off: the White Paper publicly announced the move to ten years, so later applicants would have known. Those who do not qualify at five years get a second chance - a further five-year Health and Care visa, restricted to genuine work in the sector, with no recourse to public funds during it. The paper is unusually frank about why, citing 'exceptional levels of sponsor failure, exploitation and poor practice' when this group was recruited, with some workers arriving to find the promised job did not exist. Around 1,800 employers have lost their sponsor licences. **Refugee routes are separate and longer.** Designated resettlement routes carry five years and need only A2 English. Protection Work and Study is ten years; Core Protection is twenty. Illegal entry ordinarily adds ten years on top - twenty or thirty in total depending on route. That addition does not apply where someone is protected by Article 31 of the Refugee Convention, which covers refugees who enter without permission. **The biggest caveat: none of this has started.** No implementation date has been announced. The paper says further guidance and a full impact assessment will come before implementation. Settlement rules apply at the point of application, so what matters is the rule in force when you apply - not today's announcement. **And this was contested.** The consultation drew more than 200,000 responses, and the government weighed recommendations from two parliamentary committees. Reporting indicates the proposals were softened from earlier drafts after objections within the cabinet and from backbench MPs, with the care worker arrangement among the changes. Policy that has moved once can move again.
Qurexa perspective
We work in healthcare logistics in Lincolnshire, alongside care homes, domiciliary care providers and community health teams. So we will say the plain thing: a great deal of the care in this county is delivered by people who came here on the social care route. That is the group this announcement affects most directly, and the group the command paper itself describes as having been let down by exploitative sponsors and jobs that turned out not to exist. We have no view to offer on immigration policy, and it would not be our place to give one. What we would say is practical. If you are a care worker reading this and worrying, do not take your information from a headline, from social media, or from someone charging you for help who is not qualified to give it. The rules are long, the exemptions are real, and the detail decides the outcome. Free, regulated advice exists - it is listed below. Please use it before you pay anyone.
Practical advice
**Do not act on an announcement.** Nothing has changed yet and no start date has been given. Your current visa conditions and the current rules still apply. If you were about to apply under existing rules, speak to a qualified adviser before changing your plans. **Use a regulated adviser, and check them first.** Immigration advice in the UK is regulated, and you can check whether someone is permitted to advise you at gov.uk/find-an-immigration-adviser. Unregulated advisers charging high fees are a long-standing problem, and the consequences of bad advice here are severe. **Free help exists.** Citizens Advice, many local law centres and several charities offer free immigration advice. So do some universities and trade unions - if you are a union member, ask. **Keep your own records from now on.** Because these rules turn on earnings across several years, payslips, P60s, contracts and National Insurance records matter more than they used to. Keep digital copies somewhere you will still have access in ten years, and check your NI record through your personal tax account on gov.uk. **If you are a care worker, find out which side of May 2025 you fall on.** The transitional arrangement depends on when you entered or switched into the route. That one date decides a lot. **If you lost a sponsor through no fault of your own, get it documented.** The paper specifically acknowledges workers whose employer had its licence revoked. Written evidence of what happened is worth having. **Do not ignore government debt.** No outstanding government debt is mandatory on every route. Where asylum support costs must be repaid, an applicant has to have repaid them or be keeping to an agreed plan. **Start the English and Life in the UK requirements early.** B2 English and the Life in the UK test are mandatory on all routes. Both take preparation, and neither gets easier for being left. **Watch for the guidance, not the headlines.** The detail that will decide individual cases is in what the Home Office publishes before implementation.
What to know
Indefinite leave to remain moves from a five-year standard to a ten-year default, under a system called Earned Settlement confirmed on 2 November 2026. The detail is in command paper CP 1707. The routes: three years at £125,141 or through the Highest Talent Group; five years at £50,271, or with five years in an eligible public service occupation, or a British connection; ten years as the default at £12,571; twenty years where immigration non-compliance or access to public funds rules out anything earlier. Earnings are assessed on a 'best years' basis, not every year, so maternity leave, caring or illness need not push someone onto a longer route. Children, over-65s and people unable to work through a physical or mental condition are exempt from the earnings test. Five requirements are mandatory on every route and cannot be traded off: good character and suitability, no outstanding government debt, B2 English, the Life in the UK test, and sustained contribution. Care workers who entered or switched into the route before the May 2025 Immigration White Paper keep the five-year period if they meet the £25,000 salary and sponsorship requirements. Those who do not can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa restricted to genuine sector work. Around 250,000 people came on that route between 2022 and 2025; about 1,800 employers have lost their sponsor licences. Refugee routes run separately, from five years up to thirty in some cases, with Article 31 of the Refugee Convention protecting some from the additional ten years for illegal entry. Hong Kong BN(O) holders, armed forces members, people with a British connection and legacy routes including Windrush keep their current paths. Settled status already held will not be removed, and the government says nobody will be forced to leave. Around 500,000 people are expected to settle later than they otherwise would have. The essential point: no start date has been announced, guidance is still to come, and the rules that count are those in force when an application is made. Get regulated advice before acting. Sources: GOV.UK (Home Office), 'Home Secretary unveils new rules for migrants settling in the UK', 2 November 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-unveils-new-rules-for-migrants-settling-in-the-uk; Home Office, 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation', CP 1707, November 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/earned-settlement; GOV.UK, 'Earned settlement' - oral statement to Parliament by the Home Secretary, 2 November 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-earned-settlement-statement; GOV.UK, 'Find an immigration adviser', https://www.gov.uk/find-an-immigration-adviser This article is for general information about a government announcement and is not immigration, legal or financial advice. Immigration rules are complex and change, and nothing here should be relied on for an individual case - get advice from a regulated immigration adviser or a free advice service before taking any action. For health matters, speak to a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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