Earned Settlement: What The 10-Year Proposal Means

1. A Closer Look at the Proposed 10-Year Pathway to ILR

The Government has opened a major consultation on reshaping the UK settlement system. In a Commons statement on 20 November 2025, the Home Secretary announced a move away from the familiar "five-year route" model towards a baseline 10-year qualifying period with the potential for "Earned Settlement".

While changes may be coming, it should be noted that at this stage it is just a consultation and that no changes to the Immigration Rules have been announced. The consultation is expected to run for 12 weeks (until 12 February 2026), with any changes to be implemented from April 2026, if adopted.

This article explores what routes to settlement could look like if the suggestions in the Home Secretary and the Command Paper (A Fairer Pathway To Settlement – A statement and accompanying consultation on earned settlement, published in November 2025) are adopted. Of course, this is somewhat speculative at this