Overview
- On Monday the Home Office published a reworked earned‑settlement package that replaces the single five‑year route with a 10‑year standard path to indefinite leave to remain.
- The plan protects many care workers who arrived before May 2025 by allowing them to qualify after five years if they have complied with their visas and met a reported earnings test near £25,000.
- It establishes tiered pathways including fast‑track three‑ and five‑year routes for highest earners and specified public‑service roles, longer waits for benefit claimants and illegal entrants, and transitional visas plus a second‑chance five‑year Health and Care visa for some workers.
- All applicants will face four mandatory tests for settlement: a spotless criminal record, spoken English at an A‑level equivalent, no debt owed to the taxpayer, and a sustained record of National Insurance contributions.
- The package follows a consultation with more than 200,000 responses and Home Office modelling of a large cohort due to qualify between 2026–2030, but it leaves unresolved legal, operational and fiscal questions that will be considered by Parliament and could face legal challenge.