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 GOV.UK now says all biometric residence permits have expired and been replaced by eVisas — digital records of status held in a UKVI account.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.

Earned Settlement: Announced, Not Yet in the Rules

The consultation "A Fairer Pathway to Settlement" ran from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026. On 2 November 2026 the government published its response to the consultation (CP 1707), setting out what it has decided. In summary:

• 10 years becomes the standard qualifying period. It requires earnings of at least £12,571 in 5 of the 7 years before applying (CP 1707, page 12 and Table 1, page 42).
• 5 years is kept for people who earned at least £50,271 in 3 of the last 5 years, people who worked for 5 years in one of the listed public service jobs in health and education, and people with a British connection, such as partners of British citizens (page 42).
• 3 years is for people who earned at least £125,141 in 3 of the last 4 years, or who are in a "Highest Talent Group" that the response does not yet define (page 42).
• 20 years is for people who have committed an immigration breach as an adult, or who used specified public funds in the 5 years before applying (pages 9 and 14).
• Everyone must also meet minimum requirements, including B2 English, the Life in the UK test, no criminal record and no unpaid government debt (pages 4 to 5).
• The 10-year Long Residence route will close, and time on Student and Graduate visas will no longer count towards settlement (page 19). The response gives no closing date. See which visas count under earned settlement.

None of this is law yet. The response gives no start date. 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" and "will be implemented over the course of 2027". Until a statement of changes is laid and takes effect, the current qualifying periods apply.

The decision is a set of fixed pathways, not a points score. See our guide to earned settlement for the full detail, and our page on what changed between the 2025 proposal and the 2026 decision.

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

Today, 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.

Under earned settlement this would change. The government's response says applicants "must demonstrate good character and suitability", and that "any adult applicant with a criminal record in the UK will be refused settlement" (CP 1707, pages 4 and 8). The response counts cautions, fines and community sentences as a criminal record. This is announced policy, not yet a rule.

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. Earned settlement would change it, but the rules have not yet been laid.
• 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. Under earned settlement this would change: the government's response says refugees will need B2 English and the Life in the UK test. Refugees on the UK Resettlement Scheme will need A2 English instead, and will not need the Life in the UK test until a version at A2 level exists (CP 1707, pages 5 and 33). That is announced, not yet in the rules.

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