Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood provided details of the Government’s “earned settlement” policy to the House of Commons yesterday.

The Government intends to increase the normal qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from 5 years to 10 years for most applicants. However, not all immigration categories will count towards settlement.

Discounts to the 10-year qualifying period will be applied depending on earnings, employment and integration in the UK, and connection to a British sponsor.

Notably, previous breaches of immigration laws including overstaying will put an applicant on a 20-year route to settlement regardless of any positive attributes. This is likely to affect people who previously overstayed but regularised their status based on a British or settled partner or child: the rights of families in this position will already have been recognised under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Some may already have switched to a 5-year route to settlement under the current rules. However, the new position appears to be that they will have to wait until they have completed 20 years of leave before settling.

You can read Shabana Mahmood’s speech online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/home-secretary-earned-settlement-statement

The detailed consultation response is here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ae90b0e5b14ba0182a272a4/A_Fairer_Pathway_to_Settlement_-_Government_response_to_the_consultation.pdf

Kitty Falls

3 November 2026