The New UK Settlement Proposals: Consultation Now Open

The government's proposals to reform UK settlement eligibility have now been published in a new consultation document. These will profoundly impact individuals and businesses, so responding to the consultation will be important, as will analysing the potential impacts on a case-by-case basis. This may include making settlement and citizenship applications as soon as possible where eligible. For those who are not yet eligible for settlement, it may require a detailed review of financial and personal arrangements.

What is changing and when

The proposals will remove qualifying primarily on residence alone (currently after five years in most affected routes). For all applicants there will be mandatory requirements based on good character, integration and economic contribution. The UK residence requirement will vary from a baseline of ten years in most cases, with contributions carrying a bonus, so the minimum residence is reduced to as little as three years. Negative factors may result in being penalised with a longer period of residence of up to 30 years, or being disqualified from settlement altogether.

The consultation document confirms that these changes will be retrospective and affect those already in the UK on a pathway to settlement. The intention is to move swiftly after the consultation period, which is due to end at 23:59 GMT on 12 February 2026. New Immigration Rules implementing the system could be brought forward as early as April 2026.

Although some aspects of the new policy are already determined, it may be possible to provide feedback and effect change on some of the proposals. Details on how to do that are at the bottom of this article.

The new settlement proposals

There are four core pillars which all applicants will be expected to meet (with some exceptions for children and vulnerable groups):

1. Character: All applicants must be of good character (this will become tougher, including a requirement not to have any criminal convictions).
2. Integration: Applicants will be required to pass the Life in the UK Test and demonstrate a higher level of English proficiency at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), which is a higher intermediate level.
3. Contribution: Applicants must have made a sustained and measurable economic contribution to the UK, at a minimum earnings level of £12,570 for the three to five years (subject to consultation), or an alternative amount of income, and exemptions may be considered.
4. Residence: Lawful continuous residence will be recognised but not enough on its own.

We will be analysing the consultation document in detail over the coming days, but immediate notable points are as follows:

• Those who already are settled will have no changes applied to that status (presumably including that access to public funds will remain available);
• It will be retrospective and affect people already on a path to settlement, (this is however subject to consultation);
• The 10-year long residence settlement route will be abolished;
• Settlement will be granted without access to public funds;
• A criminal record will be an absolute bar to settlement (unless discretion is exercised outside the Immigration Rules);
• Criminality thresholds applicable to all immigration routes will be comprehensively reviewed;
• Adult dependants of economic migrants may have their own qualifying periods based on their attributes and circumstances, including children reaching the age of 18 needing to meet the earned settlement criteria, perhaps with some modifications;
• The government is consulting specifically on the question of whether dependants of Global Talent and Innovator Founder route participants can retain a five-year route to settlement where the main applicant qualifies after three years;
• Only the parent/partner/child of British citizens will be eligible for a five-year discount on the baseline qualifying period, which means that partners of settled persons, those with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme or limited permission as a refugee or person with humanitarian protection may be subject to a ten-year baseline;
• Economic contributions will be assessed against an applicant's taxable income (as opposed to gross income), which may mean choices regarding the level of pension contributions or participation in other salary sacrifice arrangements may affect eligibility for settlement;
• The proposals for dependants will require careful scrutiny and areas of potential for discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as welfare considerations will need to be highlighted in consultation responses;
• The consultation covers tailoring earned settlement for groups who are vulnerable or require compassionate treatment;
• Proposals for earned citizenship will be considered once the details of the earned settlement system are finalised.

Further details of the baseline residence requirement and factors affecting it

The new baseline period is:

• Ten years in most cases but this can be adjusted upwards or downwards depending on the applicant's contributions and actions as outlined in the Tables 2 and 3 of the consultation document;
• Sponsored workers in roles below graduate level (so below RQF level 6) could be subject to a higher baseline qualifying period of 15 years.

Table 2: Considerations that will reduce the baseline qualifying period

(only one consideration will apply and this will be the one that causes the greatest reduction, and additional years from Table 3 will take precedence over any reduction)

Examples include the following (for full list see page 22 here):

Table 3: Considerations that will increase the baseline qualifying period

(only the one that causes the largest increase would apply and will take precedence over any reduction)

Examples include the following (for full list see pages 22 to 23 here):

General analysis

For many the changes will not make a marked difference and there will be people who benefit from the changes and those who will find it harder to qualify for settlement than currently:

• The clear winners are high earners who can offset 7 years and qualify in as little as 3 years for settlement and those on Global Talent and Innovator founder visas who will retain the accelerated settlement after 3 years.
• However, those with a complicated immigration history or who might have overstayed a visa may find they have to wait up to 30 years to qualify for settlement.
• Workers in roles below graduate level (so below RQF level 6) may be subject to a baseline qualifying period of 15 years although they may be able to offset up to 5 years if they can show contributions such as voluntary or community work.
• Many of the considerations that will offset the baseline qualifying period could disadvantage women, especially those who fill lower-skilled/lower-paid but critical roles, or if they have child care responsibilities or breaks in career to start a family.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.