Home Secretary says earned settlement policy due later this year
29 Sep 2026
If you are working towards settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) on any visa route, this is worth watching. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has told MPs that the government's "earned settlement" policy, which could raise the standard qualifying period for ILR from five years to ten, will be set out later this year.
Mahmood described the plan as "a new model of settlement, which is about settlement being something that is earned through contribution and a new set of tests." She would not give a firm date, saying "I do not want to overspeak for the Government grid and decide my own timeline," but said the decision would come "very soon."
One group is under particular time pressure. People who arrived in the UK in 2022 are due to start qualifying for settlement under the current five-year route in February 2027. Mahmood said the policy would be delivered "in good time before you get the first round of people qualifying who arrived in 2022," and confirmed the government consulted on transitional protections, ranging from "passporting certain cohorts through, so no change, and they still qualify at five years" to longer timelines for other groups.
Nothing is confirmed yet. There is no fixed date for the announcement and no final decision on who gets transitional protection. If you are on a work, family, ancestry or BNO route heading towards your five-year settlement point, especially if you arrived around 2022, keep an eye on official announcements over the coming months rather than acting on this yet.
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