Indefinite leave to remain: the definite answers businesses were waiting for

Almost a year ago, the UK government launched a consultation on tightening the criteria and doubling the default qualification period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), also called settlement, from five to 10 years.

Growing public unease followed the ‘Boriswave’ post-Brexit spike in immigration, despite a promise to “take back control” by leaving the EU and decoupling from its free movement laws. The perceived pull factor of a fast path to a permanent home and guaranteed state support, to the detriment of those already here, fuelled resentment and division. This bold measure was a way to counter that and take 800,000 migrants out of the fast lane to settlement. At least, that was the plan.

The government should have expected a backlash from all sides and, with one of the largest responses ever to a consultation, it got one.

A new Prime Minister, a new Home Secretary and a set of compromises later, we have some answers at last, and they look just like our prediction of a year ago.

The new criteria

Base criteria, with a few exceptions, include speaking English to a high standard, being in good standing with HMRC with a “record of sustained National Insurance Contributions”, having no adverse immigration record and no significant offending of any kind.

Qualification periods are linked to ‘contribution’:

• The default ILR threshold moves to 10 years, but:
• Sponsored migrants in the Skilled Worker category earning over £125,141 will be eligible for ILR after three years
• Global Talent and Innovator Founder migrants will be eligible for ILR after three years
• Sponsored migrants in the Skilled Worker category who are higher-rate taxpayers earning above £50,271 gross retain the current five-year qualification period
• Public service workers, such as doctors, nurses, health workers and teachers, retain the current five-year qualification period
• Care workers who earned at least £25,000 a year while meeting their visa conditions and arrived in the UK before May 2025 also retain the current five-year qualification period.

At the other end of the spectrum:

• Migrants who claim certain benefits while in the UK, commit certain offences or arrive unlawfully on a small boat and enter work or study must wait 20 years to qualify
• Migrants who arrive unlawfully on a small boat and do not enter work or study must wait 30 years to qualify.

Initial feedback is that employers with a primarily skilled workforce and those in the healthcare sector will broadly welcome the concessions.

When do the new criteria start?

Not immediately. As with all immigration legislation affecting the Rules, a Statement of Changes has to be approved by parliament and an implementation timetable approved. This one is expected to go to parliamentary approval in December 2026, with phased introduction in 2027.

Can the retrospective effect be open to legal challenge from those who lose out?

Someone had evidently thought about this. Applicants for immigration status have been declaring with their applications for some time that they accept the rules may change and that the changes may have retrospective effect on them.

This makes a ‘legitimate expectation’ argument hard to sustain. Even the Home Office learns from its past mistakes.

Will ILR under the new accelerated arrangements be secure?

Not if Reform UK forms a majority government in 2029 and you believe Nigel Farage’s threat to review all grants made under the new criteria to assess if each person granted ILR has made the right ‘contribution’.

After all, provision to cancel ILR in certain circumstances have existed for decades. It is indefinite, not permanent, after all, and the government may legislate to discontinue it altogether, per Reform’s current pledge.