Maternity, parental leave and settlement

How Maternity Leave Affects the Salary Threshold

On the Skilled Worker route to ILR, your sponsor must confirm that you are being paid, and will be paid for the foreseeable future, at least the relevant salary threshold at the date of your settlement application (Appendix Skilled Worker, paragraph SW 24.2). When you take maternity leave, your pay typically drops to statutory maternity pay (SMP) or employer-enhanced maternity pay.

The Immigration Rules deal with this directly. If you are absent from work on statutory maternity, paternity, shared parental, parental, neonatal care or adoption leave (or sick leave) when you apply, or you returned from such an absence within the month before the date of application, the salary assessed is the salary you receive on your return to work, as stated by your sponsor (paragraph SW 24.4 and Part Suitability paragraph SUI 36.1).

In practice, this means you should:

• Document everything: Get a letter from your employer confirming the dates of your leave, your normal salary, and the pay you received during leave.
• Show your salary before and after leave: Payslips from before your leave started and after you returned to work show the salary paid when working normally.
• Include your employment contract: This shows your contracted salary, which should meet the threshold.

Continuous Employment

Taking maternity or parental leave does not break your continuous employment for ILR purposes. You remain employed throughout your leave, even if you are receiving statutory pay or no pay. Your employment relationship is protected under UK employment law.

If you are on the Skilled Worker route, your certificate of sponsorship remains valid during maternity and parental leave. The Home Office's guidance for sponsors lists statutory maternity, paternity, parental, shared parental, neonatal care and adoption leave as permissible absences: a sponsor does not have to stop sponsoring a worker who is absent without pay, or on reduced pay, for one of these reasons. The sponsor must still report the period of absence to the Home Office as part of their sponsor duties; that report does not end your sponsorship.

Absences During Parental Leave

Many people choose to spend part of their parental leave visiting family abroad. This is perfectly understandable, but you must be careful about absence limits. On the Skilled Worker route, the limit is 180 days in any 12-month rolling period.

If you are planning a longer trip abroad to be with family during your maternity leave, calculate your absences carefully. See our detailed guide on ILR travel and absence rules for how to calculate this.

The rules do not grant extra absence allowance for maternity leave. Maternity or parental leave is not one of the reasons listed in Appendix Continuous Residence for disregarding an absence; the listed reasons are things like travel disruption caused by a natural disaster, military conflict or pandemic, and compelling personal circumstances such as the life-threatening illness of the applicant or a close family member. Time spent abroad on maternity leave counts towards the 180 days in the same way as any other absence.

Unpaid Parental Leave

If you take unpaid parental leave (as opposed to statutory paid leave), the considerations are slightly different:

• Salary: During unpaid leave, you receive no salary at all. Statutory parental leave is on the same list in the Immigration Rules as maternity leave (paragraph SUI 36.1), so the same salary provision applies if you apply for settlement during it or within a month of returning to work.
• NI contributions: You may have gaps in your National Insurance contributions during unpaid leave. This does not directly affect ILR but may matter for your state pension record.
• Sponsorship: Check with your employer that your sponsorship remains active during unpaid leave.

Timing Your ILR Application

If possible, time your ILR application strategically around your parental leave:

• Apply before leave starts: If you have completed your qualifying period, submit your ILR application before your maternity or parental leave begins. This way, your most recent payslips will show your full salary.
• Apply after returning to work: If you apply within the month after returning to work, the rules assess the salary you receive on your return, as stated by your sponsor. After that, your current pay is assessed in the normal way, and recent payslips will show your full salary again.
• During leave: You can apply during leave. The rules assess the salary you will receive on your return to work, as stated by your sponsor, so include the employer letter described above.

For more on when your qualifying period starts and ends, see our qualifying period guide.

Spouse Visa and Parental Leave

If you are on the spouse visa route to ILR, maternity leave affects you differently. The financial requirement on the spouse route is based on household income, and you may be relying on your British or settled partner's income rather than your own. In this case, your maternity leave may have less impact.

However, if you are the primary earner meeting the financial threshold, the same principles apply as on the Skilled Worker route. Document everything and show the income received when not on leave.

Your Employment Rights During Leave

Visa holders have the same employment rights as British workers when it comes to maternity and parental leave. This is protected under UK employment law. Your immigration health surcharge payments continue to cover your NHS access during leave. See the GOV.UK maternity pay and leave page for your statutory entitlements, and the shared parental leave page for information on sharing leave with your partner.

For a broader overview of what you are entitled to after receiving ILR, see our guide on ILR rights and benefits.

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