Earned settlementOpen the red folder.

Settlement will no longer be near-automatic after five years. How long you wait will depend on your character, contribution, integration and residence.

• Default wait10 years
• Until now5 years
• Fastest3 years
• Longest20 years (30 after illegal entry)

The government has confirmed its decisions. The detailed rules and start date have not been published.

The May 2025 Immigration White Paper proposed 10 years as the new starting point. The November 2025 consultation set out the detail, and the government's response on 2 November 2026 confirms it.

The 15-year path once proposed for jobs below degree level has been dropped. Those workers move to the 10-year default instead.

Source: Introduction, p.4–6; Chapter 8, p.38

A set of minimum requirements. Higher earnings or public service can't make up for missing one.

• Good character, under the suitability rules
• No UK criminal record as an adult
• No debt owed to the government
• English at B2 level
• A pass in the Life in the UK test
• Earnings of at least £12,571 a year

These apply on the 3, 5, 10 and 20-year pathways alike.

Children under 18 are exempt from the income, debt, English and Life in the UK requirements, but still need to meet the suitability and criminality rules. People aged 65 and over, and anyone whose physical or mental condition prevents it, are exempt from the English, Life in the UK and earnings requirements.

Source: Introduction, p.4; Chapter 1, p.7; Chapter 2, p.11; Chapter 3, p.17

Any UK criminal record as an adult would mean refusal. Higher earnings can't offset it.

• Prison or suspended sentences, of any length
• Conditional cautions, and conditional or absolute discharges
• Court fines and community sentences
• Civil orders that followed a conviction
• Overseas convictions, if the act is an offence in the UK

Today's threshold is a 12-month suspended sentence. For adults, the new approach removes it.

Offences committed under 18 are considered case by case.

Overseas convictions count where the conduct is an offence in the UK, with some discretion for differences between legal systems.

Source: Chapter 1, p.7–8

You must owe nothing to the government when you apply. Higher earnings can't offset a debt.

• NHS charges you haven't paid
• Unpaid tax or National Insurance
• Legal costs owed to the Home Office
• Asylum support you've been asked to repay

For asylum support, repaying it or keeping to an agreed repayment plan counts.

This applies on every pathway.

Source: Introduction, p.4; Chapter 1, p.8

B2, about the level of an A level in a foreign language. Today's requirement is B1.

• StandardB2
• UK Resettlement Scheme refugeesA2
• Under 18 or 65 and overExempt
• Life in the UK testStill required

C1 English won't shorten your wait. The Life in the UK test is under review.

The exemption continues for people whose physical or mental condition prevents them meeting the requirement.

Refugees resettled through the UK Resettlement Scheme need A2, and won't sit the Life in the UK test until a version at that level exists.

Source: Chapter 3, p.17

Four. Most people start at 10 years. Contribution moves you faster; a breach or recent public funds moves you slower.

• 3 yearsExceptional contribution
• 5 yearsHigher earners, public service, British connection
• 10 yearsThe default
• 20 yearsA breach, or recent public funds

To use the 3, 5 or 10-year paths you must not have used specified public funds in the last five years, or committed a qualifying immigration breach.

On the 20-year path you still need £12,571 in 5 of the previous 7 years and every mandatory requirement.

People on Family and Private Life permission can't use the 3 or 5-year paths. They settle through the 10 or 20-year paths.

Source: Table 1, p.42; Chapter 4, p.19–20

By earning £125,141 or more, or through the highest talent schemes.

• Earnings route£125,141 or more a year, in 3 of the 4 years before you apply
• Talent routeAt least 3 years on a highest talent scheme, such as Global Talent or Innovator Founder, as your latest visa
• Must not haveUsed specified public funds in the last 5 years, or committed a qualifying immigration breach

Your permission needs to be Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder or International Sportsperson.

One of the four years can fall below the threshold.

Exactly what counts as the highest talent group is under review, pending a Migration Advisory Committee report.

If you rely on Global Talent or Innovator Founder, your most recent permission must be on that route.

Source: Chapter 2, p.11–12; Chapter 4, p.19; Table 1, p.42

You need one of these three, plus every mandatory requirement.

• Higher earnings£50,271 or more in 3 of the 5 years before you apply
• Public serviceFive years in an eligible health, education or social work job
• British connectionPartner, parent or child of a British citizen, or UK Ancestry

Two of the five years can fall below £50,271.

For example, a social worker earning under £50,271 could still settle in five years, because social work is on the public service list.

Source: Chapter 2, p.11–15; Table 1, p.42

The starting point for anyone following the rules. You keep renewing your visa until you qualify.

• Earnings£12,571 a year
• For5 of the 7 years before you apply
• As a couple£25,142 combined

Exempt from the earnings test: children, people aged 65 and over, and anyone whose health prevents them meeting it.

The thresholds are linked to income tax, so they move if the tax bands change.

How earnings are measured has not been published: tax year, gross or net, one job or several, self-employment and dividends.

Source: Chapter 2, p.11–12; Table 1, p.42

A dip won't automatically push you onto a longer path. Only your best years in a recent window count.

• 3-year path3 of 4 years
• 5-year path3 of 5 years
• 10-year path5 of 7 years

For example: three years over £12,571, two years on parental leave, then two more years over it. That is 5 of the last 7 years.

Source: Chapter 2, p.12

30 health, education and social work occupations. You need five years in one of them.

• Doctors, dentists, pharmacists and optometrists
• Registered nurses and midwives
• Therapists, psychologists, paramedics, radiographers and podiatrists
• Teachers, from nursery to further education
• Social workers

Care workers are not on this list. Their own arrangement is in the next question.

The full list is Annex C of the government's response.

• Generalist medical practitioners
• Specialist medical practitioners
• Physiotherapists
• Occupational therapists
• Speech and language therapists
• Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists
• Clinical psychologists
• Other psychologists
• Other therapy professionals
• Midwifery nurses
• Registered community nurses
• Registered specialist nurses
• Registered nurse practitioners
• Registered mental health nurses
• Registered children's nurses
• Other registered nursing professionals
• Pharmacists
• Optometrists
• Dental practitioners
• Medical radiographers
• Paramedics
• Podiatrists
• Other health professionals
• Further education teachers
• Secondary teachers
• Primary teachers
• Nursery teachers
• Special and additional needs teachers
• Head teachers and principals
• Social workers

Source: Chapter 2, p.12–13; Annex C, p.54–55

If you entered or switched into the care worker route before the May 2025 White Paper, you keep a five-year path, as long as you meet the conditions.

• Salary£25,000 a year
• Also neededSponsorship and employment requirements
• PlusB2 English, no criminal record, no government debt

Entered or switched in after May 2025? You're on the 10-year default path.

If you don't meet the conditions after five years, you can apply for a further five-year Health and Care visa, limited to genuine work in the sector, with no recourse to public funds. You can then apply for settlement.

Time on a Student or Graduate visa before you switched does not count towards settlement.

Source: Chapter 8, p.38–39, 41

From 1 February 2027, care workers whose sponsor's licence is revoked get set periods to find new work.

• Find a job offerUp to 120 days
• Then resolve your visaA further 60 days
• If you miss eitherYour visa is curtailed

If you can't get a job offer within 120 days, or resolve your visa and employment status within the further 60, your visa will be curtailed.

Source: Chapter 8, p.39

Most roles below RQF 6 move to the 10-year default, not the 15 years once proposed. Support staff in health and education who came before May 2025 keep five.

• Health and education support rolesKeep 5 years if you came before May 2025, are on a national pay scale and meet your visa requirements (for example nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants)
• Skilled Workers from before April 2024Can keep extending on current salary terms until 2035. This does not give a five-year path.

There is no general protection for other Skilled Workers.

The government has said a similar arrangement will apply to these support roles.

The salary arrangements for pre-April 2024 Skilled Workers were due to end in 2030. They now run to 2035 because the wait moves to 10 years for roles below RQF 6.

Source: Chapter 8, p.38, 40

Temporary routes stay temporary. The Long Residence route will close, with no date yet.

• Student, Graduate and High Potential Individual
• Visit, Youth Mobility and Seasonal Worker
• Global Business Mobility and Temporary Worker
• Overseas Domestic Worker
• Ukraine schemes

Time on protection routes can't be combined with time on work or family routes.

Routes that do count include Skilled Worker, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, International Sportsperson, UK Ancestry, Minister of Religion, Family Partner and Parent, Family and Private Life, protection routes and safe and legal routes.

The position of people on Leave Outside the Rules will be set out later.

Source: Chapter 4, p.18–21

If you arrived together, you can settle together, as long as each of you meets the requirements.

• Arrived togetherSettle at the same time
• Joined laterCompletes the same qualifying period. Join two years later, settle two years later
• Household incomeEligible couples can combine earnings to reach £25,142. One of you can meet it alone, or you can combine

You must be in a genuine and subsisting relationship. Only one of you can rely on the other's income.

A partner who arrived with you does not need to earn £50,271 themselves.

Whether a partner who is a dependant needs their own £12,571, or can rely on the household threshold, has not been published.

Source: Chapter 2, p.13; Chapter 5, p.24–27

Families settle together. Age decides what your children need to show.

• Under 18Settle with you. Exempt from income, debt, English and Life in the UK. Suitability still applies
• 18 to 24Settle with you as a child dependant, once both parents settle. Adult requirements apply, but not the earnings test
• 25 and overMust qualify on their own, or move onto their own visa

For example, a 22-year-old graduate with child dependant status can settle when both parents do, or apply on their own if they qualify.

Children who have spent seven years or most of their life in the UK stay on their existing arrangements.

Source: Chapter 5, p.24–27

Yes. A recognised British connection keeps a five-year path, whatever you earn.

• Partners of British citizens
• Parents of British citizens
• Children of British citizens
• Commonwealth citizens with UK Ancestry

All mandatory requirements still apply.

For example, someone earning £42,000 who is married to a British citizen would be on the five-year path.

People on family routes who are not sponsored by a British citizen move to a longer path.

Source: Chapter 2, p.13–14; Annex A, p.46

For the 3, 5 or 10-year paths, you need five continuous years without specified public funds before you apply.

• 5 continuous years without them3, 5 or 10-year paths
• Otherwise20-year path, or wait for 5 clear years

Which benefits count, and the safeguards for vulnerable groups, will be set out before the rules start.

The existing definition of public funds in the Immigration Rules applies in the first instance.

Volunteering will not shorten your wait.

Speak to an IAA-regulated adviser about your own situation.

Source: Chapter 2, p.14–15

Specified breaches committed as an adult put you on the 20-year path, whatever you earn.

• Overstaying a visa
• Breaking a condition of your visa
• Using deception in an application
• Acting to frustrate immigration control

Entering the UK illegally adds a further 10 years, on any route, unless Article 31 of the Refugee Convention protects you.

Only breaches committed at 18 or over count.

The full list of breaches will be in the Immigration Rules.

Speak to an IAA-regulated adviser about your own situation.

Source: Chapter 1, p.9; Chapter 7, p.34–35

Groups with existing government commitments, exceptional service or particular vulnerability keep their own arrangements.

• Hong Kong BN(O)5 years
• Afghan schemesImmediate
• HM Armed Forces4 years' service
• WindrushConfirmation, no wait
• Bereaved partners, domestic abuse victimsImmediate
• Young people who grew up in the UK5 years

Same wait, new conditions: most still need the new criminality and B2 English standards, unless an exemption applies.

Partners and children of armed forces personnel qualify after five years. Legacy safe and legal routes keep five years, and children in local authority care get a bespoke arrangement.

Not affected at all: the EU Settlement Scheme, Turkish ECAA businesspeople and workers, Tier 1 (Investor), pre-2012 Overseas Domestic Workers, and the Calais and Section 67 routes.

Source: Chapter 4, p.21–23

Settlement will depend on how you arrived, and whether you move into work or study.

• Safe and legal routes5 years
• Protection Work and Study10 years
• Core Protection20 years
• After illegal entry+10 years

The extra 10 years doesn't apply where Article 31 of the Refugee Convention protects you.

The 10-year clock on Protection Work and Study starts when you move onto it. Time on Core Protection before that does not count.

Working refugees need £12,571 in three qualifying years, B2 English and the Life in the UK test.

Safe and legal arrivals have no public funds condition.

Speak to an IAA-regulated adviser about your own situation.

Source: Chapter 7, p.32–36; Table 2, p.43–44

No. Today's rules stay in force until the Immigration Rules change.

Settlement rules are applied when your application is decided, not when you arrived.

No start date has been given. Close to your settlement date? Speak to an IAA-regulated adviser about timing.

The government will publish further guidance before the new rules start.

Meanwhile, keep your payslips and P60s, and stay inside your absence limits.

Source: Introduction, p.6; Chapter 8, p.37