How "Earned Settlement" Scheme Will Affect Sponsored Skilled Workers And Their Dependants

A longer route to settlement

Earned settlement scheme stipulates a new 10-year baseline requirement for settlement which will apply across most immigration categories and may, in some cases, extend the residence requirement for ILR to 30 years.

Dependants will no longer qualify for ILR at the same time as the main applicant or after 5 years of continuous residence and will have to "earn settlement" in their own right.

In the past, successive governments were on the whole careful to respect legitimate expectations of migrants. Where immigration options were offered as a 5-year route or 10-year route to settlement, this was considered as a promise that at the end of the requisite period the person will be eligible for settlement provided other requirements are met. It is not clear if such legitimate expectations will be respected on this occasion.