What has changed, and what has not

Fees

Settlement costs £3,226 for each person applying, in the Home Office fee table dated 8 April 2026. There is no fee for giving your fingerprints and photo, and the healthcare surcharge is not charged on a settlement application — nor is any surcharge already paid refunded. A faster decision is bought separately: £500 for the priority service, £1,000 for super priority, per person. See our cost breakdown. The fee is paid online as part of the application on GOV.UK.

Salary Threshold Changes

For Skilled Worker settlement the figure is the higher of £41,700 a year or the standard going rate for the job. Since 22 July 2025 a new applicant's role must also be at RQF level 6. See our salary threshold guide and going rate guide.

GOV.UK publishes lower settlement figures for 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.
• £31,300 for certain Health and Care Worker occupation codes, or £25,000 if on the Immigration Salary List.
• £35,800 for an International Sportsperson.

Scale-up Worker has its own figures: £39,100 a year where the most recent permission rested on a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or after 22 July 2025, or £36,300 for one assigned between 4 April 2024 and 21 July 2025.

The eVisa Transition

This is finished, not in progress. GOV.UK now says all biometric residence permits have expired and been replaced by eVisas — digital records of status held in a UKVI account. You prove status with a share code, which lasts 90 days and can be used as many times as you need within it. An expired card can still be used to sign in to the account for 24 months after the date printed on it, or until 31 December 2026, whichever comes first. GOV.UK says a visa vignette — the sticker in a passport — stays valid until it expires. See our guide to eVisas and settlement and our eVisa guide.

Settlement itself is unaffected. What changed is how it is proved, not what it is.

The 10-Year Proposal

The government's proposal to lengthen the qualifying period has not been made. The consultation, "A Fairer Pathway to Settlement", ran from 20 November 2025 to 11:59pm on 12 February 2026, and GOV.UK says the responses are being analysed. The consultation also says the model would be time adjustment rather than points, whatever is widely reported.

One fixed point GOV.UK does publish about timing: on the routes with a 5-year qualifying period the earliest you can apply is 28 days before the 5 years is up, and applying earlier risks refusal. See our guide to the 28-day rule.

Suitability, and Where Good Character Belongs

A settlement application is tested against the suitability rules, not the good character requirement. Good character belongs to naturalisation. HC 1691, laid on 5 March 2026, made a suspended sentence of 12 months or more a mandatory ground of refusal.

For naturalisation, see our good character guide and our note on recent changes to that guidance.

What Has Not Changed

• The 5-year qualifying period on the standard routes is in force.
• The Life in the UK test still applies to anyone aged 18 to 64.
• The English language requirement at settlement is still B1, until 26 March 2027. On the Skilled Worker and Scale-up Worker routes GOV.UK says you do not prove it again at settlement, because you did so for the visa.
• A partner on a family visa still settles after 5 years.
• Settlement with refugee or humanitarian protection status is still free, and those applicants are exempt from the Life in the UK test and the English requirement under Appendix KoL UK.

One thing that did change, though earlier than 2026 and often missed: the continuous residence rules moved into Appendix Continuous Residence on 11 April 2024, and the long residence route lost its separate 184-day and 548-day test in favour of the same 180 days in any 12 months the work routes use.

For the full requirements, see our settlement requirements guide.

Staying Informed

Immigration rules change frequently. Monitor the Statement of Changes on GOV.UK and our future of UK immigration guide for updates.

Questions and answers