Settlement after 5 years, by route

Announced on 2 November 2026: Earned Settlement

This guide describes the Immigration Rules in force today. On 2 November 2026 the government published its response to the earned settlement consultation (CP 1707), which changes how long settlement takes. It is announced policy, not yet law. The Home Secretary told the House of Commons that the changes "will begin to be laid from the December immigration rules" and "will be implemented over the course of 2027".

Under the response (Table 1, page 42):

• 10 years becomes the standard qualifying period, with earnings of at least £12,571 in 5 of the previous 7 years.
• 5 years is kept for people earning at least £50,271 in 3 of the last 5 years, people who have worked 5 years in an eligible public service job in health or education, and people with a British connection: partners, parents and children of British citizens, and the UK Ancestry route.
• 3 years is for people earning at least £125,141 in 3 of the last 4 years, or in the "Highest Talent Group", which the response does not define and marks as subject to review.
• 20 years applies to people who used public funds in the 5 years before applying or committed an immigration breach as an adult.

Some care workers and some health and education workers who came before the May 2025 white paper keep a 5-year route. Beyond those groups, the response gives no general protection for people already here: it says that, "unless transitional provisions are made, applications are ordinarily considered under the Immigration Rules in force at the date of settlement decision" (page 37). Our earned settlement guide has the full decision.

Skilled Worker Route

The Skilled Worker visa is the most common work route to settlement. After 5 years of continuous residence on it you can apply for settlement.

• Qualifying period: 5 years
• Salary at settlement: the higher of £41,700 a year or the standard going rate for the job. Lower figures apply to some cases: £33,400 for a job on the Immigration Salary List, £31,300 if you were sponsored before 4 April 2024, £25,000 for eligible health and education roles paid on a national pay scale
• Your employer must confirm it: GOV.UK asks for a document from your sponsor saying you will continue to be needed for the job and will keep meeting the salary requirement. It is not a new Certificate of Sponsorship
• Predecessor route: time on Tier 2 (General) and on the other routes listed below counts
• English: GOV.UK says that today you do not have to prove English again — you did that for the visa. For applications made on or after 26 March 2027, settlement on this route requires English at B2 in speaking and listening (Appendix Skilled Worker, paragraph SW 22A.1), a new requirement rather than a rise
• Knowledge of life in the UK: the Life in the UK test, if you are 18 to 64

Spouse and Partner Route

The Spouse visa route takes 5 years through an initial visa and one extension.

• Qualifying period: 5 years (2.5 + 2.5)
• Financial requirement: £29,000 a year for anyone who first applied on or after 11 April 2024. People who first applied before that date stay on £18,600, plus £3,800 for a first child and £2,400 for each further child, capped at £29,000
• Relationship: Must be genuine and subsisting throughout
• English: A1 at the first application, A2 at the extension, B1 at settlement
• Knowledge of life in the UK: the Life in the UK test, if you are 18 to 64
• Absences: GOV.UK publishes no day limit for absences on this route. The 180-day rule belongs to the work routes
• Domestic abuse: there is a separate settlement route with no qualifying period for a partner whose relationship broke down because of domestic abuse. See our spouse visa guide

Ancestry Route

The UK Ancestry visa is available to Commonwealth citizens with a UK-born grandparent. It reaches settlement after 5 years.

• Qualifying period: 5 years
• No salary threshold: But you must be working or seeking work
• No sponsorship required: You are free to work for any employer
• English: B1 at settlement. The UK Ancestry visa itself has no English requirement, so this is the first time you are asked
• Knowledge of life in the UK: the Life in the UK test, if you are 18 to 64

Global Talent Route

The Global Talent visa is for leaders and emerging talent in science, engineering, arts, humanities and digital technology. Its qualifying period is shorter than 5 years for some endorsements.

• Qualifying period: 3 years if you were endorsed for exceptional talent by the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society, UK Research and Innovation, Arts Council England or Tech Nation, or if you qualified through an eligible prize. 5 years if you were endorsed for exceptional promise
• No salary threshold: no minimum income requirement
• No sponsorship required: you are endorsed, not sponsored
• English: B1 at settlement
• Knowledge of life in the UK: Life in the UK test required

Innovator Founder Route

The Innovator Founder visa replaced the old Innovator and Start-Up routes. It is designed for entrepreneurs establishing a business in the UK.

• Qualifying period: 3 years. GOV.UK says you cannot count time on any other visa toward it
• Business requirements: the business must be viable, innovative and scalable
• Endorsement: you need a new endorsement showing you have met the requirements for growing the business
• English: B1 at settlement
• Knowledge of life in the UK: the Life in the UK test, if you are 18 to 64

Other Routes That Settle After 5 Years

Scale-Up Route

The Scale-up Worker visa is for people recruited by qualifying high-growth UK businesses. Settlement comes after 5 years of continuous residence. The salary figure at settlement is £39,100 a year if your most recent permission rested on a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or after 22 July 2025, or £36,300 if it was assigned between 4 April 2024 and 21 July 2025. GOV.UK adds that you must have been earning that amount for at least 2 of the 3 years before you apply, and that today you do not have to prove English again. For applications made on or after 26 March 2027, settlement on this route requires English at B2 in speaking and listening.

Minister of Religion / Sportsperson

These routes also reach settlement after 5 years of continuous residence, with their own requirements. For an International Sportsperson GOV.UK gives a settlement salary of £35,800 a year or more; for a Minister of Religion it asks for pay in line with UK workers doing the same job, and at least the national minimum wage. You pay the immigration health surcharge on the visas that lead up to settlement, but not on the settlement application itself.

Domestic Worker Visa

There is a settlement route for an overseas domestic worker who has been a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking. Its rules differ from the work routes above, and GOV.UK sets them out separately.

10-Year Long Residence Route

If you have lived in the UK continuously and lawfully for 10 years on any combination of permissions, you can apply for settlement under the long residence rules. They moved from paragraph 276B into Appendix Long Residence on 11 April 2024.

• Qualifying period: 10 years of continuous lawful residence
• Most permissions count: Student, work, family and other leave. Time as a visitor, on a short-term study visa, as a Seasonal Worker, on a Ukraine scheme, on immigration bail, in detention or while overstaying does not
• Continuous residence: no more than 180 days outside the UK in any 12 months. For an absence that began before 11 April 2024, the older test applies instead: you break continuous residence if you were away for more than 184 days in a row, or more than 548 days in total
• English: B1 for applications made before 26 March 2027, and B2 for applications made on or after that date
• Knowledge of life in the UK: the Life in the UK test, if you are 18 to 64
• Current permission: you need valid permission to be in the UK, and you usually need to have held it for a year

Under the current rules it is the route by which permissions that do not themselves reach settlement, such as long periods of study followed by work, can count towards settlement.

On 2 November 2026 the government announced that the route will close. Its response says "the Long Residence route will close" and that time on temporary routes "will no longer build towards settlement simply because an individual subsequently reaches 10 years of lawful residence" (page 19). It is not yet in the Immigration Rules, and the response gives no closure date and no arrangement for people part-way through. See our long residence guide.

Routes That Do Not Lead to Settlement

Some permissions never reach settlement:

• Student visa: time on a Student visa does not count toward the 5 years on a work route. Under the current rules it does count toward the 10-year long residence route; the government announced on 2 November 2026 that this will end, but that is not yet in the Immigration Rules.
• Graduate route: the post-study work visa does not lead to settlement and does not count toward the 5 years on a work route. It runs for 2 years, or 3 for a PhD; for applications made on or after 1 January 2027 it shortens to 18 months, with the PhD length unchanged.
• Visitor visa: visitor time never counts, on any route.
• Youth Mobility Scheme: this route does not lead to settlement.
• Seasonal Worker: does not lead to settlement, and does not count toward long residence either.

How the Routes Differ

Four things separate one route from another:

• How long it takes: under the current rules, Global Talent for exceptional talent, and Innovator Founder, are 3 years. Most routes are 5. Long residence is 10. The earned settlement decision of 2 November 2026 would change these, as set out at the top of this guide. Every route also asks for the Life in the UK test if you are 18 to 64.
• Whether pay is tested: Skilled Worker and Scale-up Worker set a salary figure at settlement. UK Ancestry, Global Talent and Innovator Founder set none.
• Whether you are tied to an employer: Skilled Worker is sponsored (see switching visa categories). Global Talent and UK Ancestry are not.
• What it costs: settlement is £3,226 for each person applying, and there is no fee for giving your fingerprints and photo. Along the way you pay visa fees and the healthcare surcharge, but the healthcare surcharge is not charged on the settlement application. See our visa fees guide.

Questions and answers