If you earn under £50,000 and were counting on settling in the UK after five years, the wait is about to double. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed the final "earned settlement" policy to the House of Commons on Monday 2 November 2026.
Under the new framework, how fast you can get Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) depends on your annual earnings, the tax you pay and whether your work meets the UK's sector needs. For the Japa generation, that changes the maths.
The dividing line is £50,000 in individual annual earnings. Earn above it and you keep the five-year route. So do doctors, registered nurses and certified school teachers, who are protected because of staffing shortages. Top international tech talent and executives earning more than £125,000 a year get a three-year fast track.
Migrant workers and international graduates earning below £50,000 face 10 years. They'll also need to show they owe no public debt, have a clean conduct record, meet a high standard of English and hold at least three continuous years of National Insurance records.
Eligible social care workers already in the UK, who have kept to their visa conditions and earn at least £25,000 in the care sector, avoid the extra five years and keep their existing five-year route. Similar concessions will cover auxiliary nursing staff and public-sector healthcare support staff.
There's a catch. Ms Mahmood warned that the protection only applies to individual workers who joined their immigration routes before the Government published its Immigration White Paper in May 2025.
For refugees, the wait depends on how they arrived. Those who enter through irregular, unvetted routes could wait up to 30 years for permanent residency, while those who arrive through verified state routes are treated differently. A refugee who enters formal employment or verified education can cut 10 years from their wait.
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