Immigration – Government consolation on proposed changes

The UK Government has recently outlined a series of significant immigration reforms including changes to Earned Settlement.

The current time to settlement is 5 years but this baseline is to be increased to 10 years. There will be factors that increase or decrease the time to settlement. The Home Secretary would like the changes to apply to people who are already in the UK but who have not yet been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Those with ILR are currently permitted to access public funds. The government are consulting on whether to change the conditions of settlement so settled individuals have no recourse to public funds. 

The grid below shows a summary of the proposals under consultation: 

To read the full consultation document, and to have your say please go to: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/earned-settlement

The closing date for comments is 12 February 2026