UK moves settlement to 10 years: faster only for high earners and key professions

In brief

• The default wait for indefinite leave to remain rises from 5 to 10 years.
• The highest earners settle after 3 years, those earning above GBP 50,271 a year after 5 years, and rule breakers after no less than 20 years.
• Four mandatory conditions apply to every applicant: a spotless criminal record, a high standard of English, no debt to the taxpayer and sustained National Insurance contributions.
• The rules apply at the date of application, not the date of arrival. Settled status already granted is never removed.
• Source: Home Office statement on gov.uk of 2 November 2026.

Settlement now has to be earned

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood presented a model the government calls earned settlement. The logic is simple: how long someone waits depends on their contribution and conduct. The reform largely follows the proposals put to consultation in November 2025. What is new in the final version is a separate deal for care workers.

Until now the path was clear: five years on a work or family visa, then settlement, and a year later citizenship. For most migrants that ladder is now twice as long. Here are the new waits as published by the government:

The GBP 50,271 threshold matches the start of the higher rate of income tax. The government did not give a figure for "the highest earners" in its statement; that will be set in the rules. Refugees on approved routes settle after 5 years, others after 20, reduced to 10 for those who work or study. People who arrived by small boat or other clandestine means face an additional 10 years, up to 30 in total.

What this means for you. If you are in the UK on a work visa earning below GBP 50,271, plan for 10 years to settled status, not 5. Applying for citizenship before then will not be possible.

Three examples: how the timelines move

Let us run three typical situations through the new table. The dates are illustrative; the rules come from the government statement.

• An engineer arrived on a work visa in 2024 earning GBP 42,000. Previously he would have applied for settlement in 2029 and citizenship in 2030. Now he is in the 10-year group: settlement no earlier than 2034, a passport no earlier than 2035.
• A finance director earning GBP 85,000 arrived in 2024. She stays in the 5-year group and applies for settlement in 2029, provided she meets the four conditions, including high-level English and sustained contributions.
• A couple arrived together: one works with income above the threshold, the other does not work. The working partner settles after 5 years. The other must prove high-level English and a clean record independently, or the family will settle in different years.

The main lesson from these examples: what decides is not the arrival date but income and profession in the year of application. A pay rise above GBP 50,271 before applying can halve the wait, while losing a job just before applying can push it back to 10 years.

Four conditions for everyone, whenever they arrived

Beyond the wait itself, the government is tightening the requirements. Every applicant must meet them, regardless of arrival date:

The toughest is the criminal record. Previously refusal followed a sentence of 12 months or more, including suspended, and minor offences did not close the path. Now the record has to be completely clean. The English requirement rises to roughly the level of an A-Level exam in English as a foreign language. For many families this means the working spouse will settle while the other waits until their English catches up.

The National Insurance condition ties status to formal work. Years spent in the country without contributions, for example living on savings or a foreign business, stop counting towards settlement. For affluent people who lived in London on their capital, that is a notable change.

Who is affected and who is not

The rules apply at the date of the settlement application. That has always been the British approach, and the government explicitly keeps it. So the reform also affects people already living in the country on a visa who expected to apply in a year or two. Only those who already hold settled status are protected: it is never removed from anyone.

Family members of British citizens, British National (Overseas) passport holders from Hong Kong and members of the armed forces keep their current pathways. The government made a separate exception for care workers: those who met their visa conditions and earned at least GBP 25,000 a year will settle after 5 years. Around a quarter of care workers who do not qualify will be offered a new five-year visa, and only after it can they apply for settlement.

No one will be forced to leave. Everyone keeps the option of a new visa and settlement after 10 years. But for a family that planned a passport in six years, the horizon moves by almost a decade, and with it decisions about buying a home, children's schooling and taxes.

A passport after settlement: at least another year

Settled status in Britain is not yet citizenship. Naturalisation is usually possible 12 months after settlement. You need to pass the Life in the UK test, prove your English and show good character. Spouses of British citizens do not have to wait that year: they can apply straight after settlement.

Britain allows dual citizenship, so you do not have to give up your existing passport unless your own country requires it. For a worker earning below the threshold, the road to a British passport under the new model therefore takes at least 11 years from arrival.

Britain is not alone: Europe is lengthening the path to a passport too

Britain is moving in the same direction as EU countries. Portugal's nationality law has required 10 years of residence since May 2026, and on 29 October the government approved its implementing rules. Ireland is debating a rise from 5 to 8 years for citizenship. Italy is preparing a mandatory B1 certificate for all applicants. Sergej Evdokimov examined this trend in his analysis of why the road to a European passport is getting longer.

One British particularity: there is nothing left for investors. The old investor visa closed in 2022, and the new one, as we reported, has been shelved. An affluent family that wants fast status in Britain now has only income above the threshold or exceptional talent to rely on.

Ten years of waiting coincide with a tax threshold

There is a detail the reform debate has largely missed. From April 2025 Britain abolished the non-dom regime and moved to a residence-based system. New residents can avoid UK tax on foreign income and gains for their first four years, and then pay on worldwide income in the ordinary way.

Inheritance tax now also depends on time in the country. Someone who has been UK tax resident for 10 of the last 20 years counts as a long-term resident, and UK inheritance tax then reaches all of their assets worldwide. The rate is 40%.

The new settlement model puts most migrants at exactly that point: they will gain settled status at roughly the same time their worldwide assets come within UK inheritance tax. A family with capital abroad should decide early where it wants to be in 10 years and plan migration and tax together. More on choosing a country in our section on tax residency.

What to do if you planned a British passport

For those who value freedom of movement and a fallback, some programmes give permanent status without years of waiting: Malta permanent residence and Cyprus permanent residence grant it from the start. People living on passive income can look at Stamp 0 in Ireland, and those who need a second passport should compare citizenship by investment programmes and check their strength in our passport index. An example of how a client built a tax and migration plan when leaving Britain is in our case study.

What comes next

The model has been set out before Parliament. Detailed rules, including the exact figure for the highest earners and transitional terms for specific groups, will follow in changes to the Immigration Rules. We are watching for the text and will update this report when it appears. We will also check how the new waits apply to people who file in the first months after the rules are published: transitional terms matter most for them. If you are already in the UK and deciding what to do, book an online consultation and we will work out your timelines and options.