How the qualifying period is counted
How the qualifying period for settlement is counted under the earned settlement decision of 2 November 2026: which time counts, when the clock starts, combining routes, the 20-year pathway, and which rules apply to people already here.
- Section
- ILR & Settlement
- Reading time
- 9 min
- Last checked
- 3 November 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- The earned settlement decision was announced on 2 November 2026. It is not yet in the Immigration Rules, and today's qualifying periods still apply.
- Under the decision, only time on routes that lead to settlement counts. Student, Graduate and other temporary routes do not.
- Time on protection or human rights routes cannot be added to time on work or family routes. The clock starts again on the new route.
- Using specified public funds, or a specified immigration breach as an adult, leads to a 20-year pathway.
- The response says applications are normally decided under the rules in force on the date of the decision, with transitional arrangements only for named groups.
The qualifying period is the time someone must spend in the UK on a qualifying route before applying for settlement (indefinite leave to remain). Under the earned settlement decision announced on 2 November 2026, it becomes 3, 5, 10 or 20 years depending on the pathway, and only time on routes that lead to settlement counts. Time on Student, Graduate and other temporary routes will not count, and the Long Residence route will close. The government's response says applications are normally decided under the rules in force on the date of the decision. None of this is law yet: the Home Secretary said the rules will begin to be laid from December 2026 and be brought in over 2027.
Where This Stands
The government announced its earned settlement decision on 2 November 2026, in A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation (CP 1707). Page numbers on this page refer to that document.
The decision is not yet law. No statement of changes to the Immigration Rules had been laid by 3 November 2026. The Home Secretary told the House of Commons on 2 November 2026 that the changes "will begin to be laid from the December immigration rules. They will be implemented over the course of 2027."
Until then, the qualifying periods in today's rules apply. For most work and family routes that is 5 years, and the Long Residence route offers settlement after 10 years of continuous lawful residence. For the four new pathways and who each is for, see our guide to earned settlement. This page is about how the time is counted.
The Qualifying Period Under Earned Settlement
The qualifying period is the time on a qualifying route that must be completed before applying for settlement (indefinite leave to remain). Under the decision, its length depends on the pathway:
| Pathway | Qualifying period | Summary of what the response lists (Table 1, page 42) |
|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 3 years | £125,141 for 3 of the last 4 years, or the "Highest Talent Group" (subject to review) |
| 5 years | 5 years | £50,271 for 3 of the last 5 years, or 5 years in an eligible public service job, or a British connection |
| 10 years | 10 years | £12,571 for 5 of the previous 7 years |
| 20 years | 20 years | For people whose non-compliance or use of public funds prevents an earlier pathway |
The response says residence still matters, but "time spent in the UK should not, by itself, be enough to earn permanent status" (page 18). Every pathway also needs the mandatory requirements: good character and no criminal record, no government debt, B2 English, the Life in the UK test, and sustained contribution.
Which Time Counts
The biggest change to how time is counted is that only time on routes that lead to settlement will count. The response says: "Time on a qualifying pathway to settlement will count; time on temporary routes will not" (page 18).
Routes that count (page 19) include the longer-term work, talent and family routes, which the response calls "core permission": Skilled Worker, UK Ancestry, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, International Sportsperson, Minister of Religion, the family partner and parent routes, and Stateless Person. Family and Private Life, and the protection routes, also count, but Family and Private Life permission cannot lead to the 3-year or 5-year pathways.
Routes that do not count (page 20) include Visit, Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual, Youth Mobility, Seasonal Worker, Global Business Mobility, the Temporary Worker routes, Overseas Domestic Worker and the Ukraine schemes. The response has not decided how to treat leave outside the rules.
The full lists, with the footnotes, are in our guide to which visas count towards settlement.
Combining Time on Different Routes
Under today's rules, time on different routes can sometimes be added together, especially through Long Residence. The response limits this:
"Under Earned Settlement, time spent on protection or human-rights routes (for example, refugee or Article 8 routes) will not be able to be combined with time spent on work or family routes to meet the qualifying residence period. Where someone moves between these routes, the qualifying period for the new settlement pathway will start when they move onto it." (page 21)
The response gives an example: someone who comes on a work visa and later claims asylum cannot count their work-route time towards settlement through the protection system. It does not say expressly whether time on two different work routes, such as Skilled Worker and then Global Talent, can be combined. For Global Talent and Innovator Founder, it says that to use the 3-year or 5-year pathway on the basis of those routes, the most recent grant of permission must be on that route (page 19).
The Long Residence Route Will Close
Long Residence is the route in today's rules that allows settlement after 10 years of continuous lawful residence, counting time on almost any route. The response says:
"Under Earned Settlement, the Long Residence route will close. Time spent on temporary routes will no longer build towards settlement simply because an individual subsequently reaches 10 years of lawful residence." (page 19)
No closure date has been published, and the response sets out no arrangement for people part-way through 10 years of long residence. Long Residence stays in the Immigration Rules until a statement of changes removes it.
The 20-Year Pathway
Two things move an applicant to the 20-year pathway, whatever their earnings or other contributions.
- Public funds. Applicants on the 3, 5 and 10-year pathways "will be expected not to have accessed specified public funds during the five years immediately before applying for settlement". Someone who continues to access public funds "will have to complete 20 years on a qualifying route" (page 14). The response's example says a person who has used them can either complete a continuous 5-year period on a qualifying route without them, or wait until they have 20 years (page 15). Which benefits count will be set out before implementation.
- Immigration breaches. "Specified immigration breaches committed as an adult will place an applicant on a 20-year pathway to settlement" (page 9). The breaches "will include overstaying a visa, breaching a condition attached to immigration permission, using deception in an application, and taking action to frustrate immigration controls". The full list will be in the Immigration Rules. The rule applies only to people aged 18 or over at the time.
Separately, the response says anyone who enters the UK illegally "will ordinarily face an additional 10 years waiting period", unless protected by Article 31 of the Refugee Convention (pages 34–35).
Which Rules Apply to People Already Here
The consultation asked about transitional arrangements but did not answer. The response does, on page 37:
"The courts have recognised that, unless transitional provisions are made, applications are ordinarily considered under the Immigration Rules in force at the date of settlement decision. Being in the UK does not give someone an automatic right to settle under the rules that existed when they first arrived."
It then names a small number of groups with transitional arrangements, all tied to having been in the UK before the immigration white paper was published in May 2025:
| Group | Published arrangement | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Care workers who entered, or switched into, the route before May 2025 | Keep 5 years if they meet the £25,000 salary, sponsorship and employment requirements and the new mandatory requirements | 38 |
| Health and education workers below degree level on a national pay scale, who came before May 2025 | Keep a 5-year route, as "a one-off arrangement" | 40 |
| Skilled Workers sponsored before April 2024 | Can extend on current salary terms until 2035. Below degree level, the qualifying period is 10 years | 40 |
The response says these arrangements "do not create a wider exemption for everyone already living in the UK" (page 38). The Home Secretary said people on the 10-year pathway "will be able to renew their existing, temporary visas until that point."
How the rules apply to a particular person, once they are laid, depends on what the statement of changes says about its own start date and any transitional provisions. See our guide to care workers for the care sector arrangements in full.
When the Qualifying Period Starts Today
Under today's rules, the qualifying period on most routes runs from the date of the first grant of permission on a qualifying route, or entry to the UK with it. Time spent waiting for a decision on an in-time extension application can count under section 3C leave. Absences are limited, generally to 180 days in any 12-month period; see our absence rules guide and guide to when the qualifying period starts.
The response does not publish new rules on absences or on start dates beyond the points above. It says it will publish "further guidance setting out additional technical and operational detail" before implementation (page 6).
Sources
- HM Government, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation, CP 1707, November 2026, on the GOV.UK earned settlement consultation page. Page numbers are the printed page numbers.
- House of Commons, "Immigration: Earned Settlement", 2 November 2026, in Hansard.
- GOV.UK statement of changes collection.
Only a person regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority or a solicitor can advise on an individual case. See our guide to getting help with an application.
Questions and answers
Is the qualifying period for settlement now 10 years?
Not yet. The government announced on 2 November 2026 that 10 years will be the standard qualifying period, with 3-year and 5-year pathways for some groups and a 20-year pathway for others. No statement of changes had been laid by 3 November 2026. Until the rules change, the qualifying periods in today's Immigration Rules apply: 5 years on most work and family routes.
Which rules will apply to someone already part-way through a route?
The government's response says that, unless transitional provisions are made, applications are ordinarily considered under the Immigration Rules in force at the date of the settlement decision (CP 1707, page 37). It sets out transitional arrangements for a small number of named groups, such as care workers who entered the route before May 2025, and says these do not create a wider exemption for everyone already in the UK.
Does time on a Student or Graduate visa count towards settlement?
Under the decision, no. The response lists Student, Graduate and High Potential Individual among the routes that will not count towards settlement, and says the Long Residence route, through which that time counts today, will close. Under the current rules, Student and Graduate time can still count towards the 10-year Long Residence route.
Can time on different visas be added together?
The response says time on protection or human rights routes, such as refugee or Article 8 routes, cannot be combined with time on work or family routes. When someone moves between those types of route, the qualifying period for the new pathway starts when they move onto it (page 21). The response does not say expressly whether time on two different work routes can be combined.
What leads to the 20-year pathway?
Two things, under the response. Accessing specified public funds in the 5 years before applying, unless the person completes a continuous 5-year period without them. And a specified immigration breach committed as an adult, such as overstaying a visa, breaking a condition of permission, using deception, or frustrating immigration controls (pages 9 and 14).
When does the qualifying period start?
Under today's rules it generally starts on the date of the first grant of permission on a qualifying route, or entry to the UK on it. The response does not change that wording, but it does say that when someone moves from a protection or human rights route to a work or family route, or the other way, the qualifying period for the new pathway starts when they move onto it.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.