What settlement gives you

Work

• No sponsor. You are not tied to an employer, and an employer does not need a sponsor licence to hire you.
• No salary or occupation test. The going rate and general salary thresholds that govern the Skilled Worker route stop applying.
• Self-employment and company formation are open on the same basis as anyone else settled here.

Employers still have to make a right to work check. Yours is done with a share code from your UKVI account, which lasts 90 days. See our right to work guide and our employment rights guide.

Public Funds

Settlement removes the no recourse to public funds condition. That unlocks the door; it does not decide the outcome. Each benefit keeps its own rules, and several apply a habitual residence test or a past-presence test that is about where you have been living rather than what status you hold.

Benefits that become available to apply for include:

• Universal Credit
• Housing support and applications for social housing
• Child Benefit, currently £27.05 a week for the eldest or only child and £17.90 a week for each additional child
• Disability and carer benefits
• Pension Credit and the contributory benefits

The published list of what counts as a public fund, and the rules for each, are on the GOV.UK benefits pages. Social housing allocation is run by local authorities and the eligibility rules differ between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The NHS

This is the point most often overstated. Settlement means you use the NHS on the same basis as any other resident. Residents pay charges.

• Prescriptions. £9.90 per item in England. Free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• NHS dentistry in England. Band 1 is £27.90, band 2 is £76.60, band 3 is £332.10, and urgent treatment is £27.90.
• Immigration health surcharge. No longer payable, because there are no more visa applications to pay it on. It is £1,035 a year for most people and £776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility applicants and under-18s.

On refunds, GOV.UK publishes surcharge refunds where an application is refused or withdrawn or where too much was paid. It does not publish a refund of the unexpired part of a surcharge when settlement is granted, and no surcharge is charged on a settlement application. See our refunds guide and our health surcharge guide.

Housing

• Renting. Right to rent checks are an England-only scheme. Landlords in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not required to make them. See our renting guide.
• Buying. There is no immigration bar on owning property at any status. What changes with settlement is that lenders no longer have a visa expiry date to underwrite against. See our mortgage and property guide.
• Council tax and rates. Northern Ireland has domestic rates rather than council tax.

Education

• School places. Admissions in England, Scotland and Wales run through local authorities. In Northern Ireland they run through the Education Authority. See our school places guide.
• Free school meals in England. GOV.UK says that from the start of academic year 2026 to 2027, a child qualifies if the household gets Universal Credit, regardless of household income. All children in reception, year 1 and year 2 get infant free school meals.
• Tuition and student finance. The rules are devolved and are not the same across the UK. In Scotland, tuition support requires settled status and three years' residence, so it does not reach someone still on a visa. Check the funding body for the nation you live in before assuming home-fee status.

Voting

Settlement itself does not confer a vote. Two things decide it: nationality, and which part of the UK you live in.

• Irish citizens and qualifying Commonwealth citizens can register and vote in UK parliamentary elections.
• Scotland and Wales. Anyone with permission to stay in the UK can register for Scottish Parliament, Senedd and local elections.
• England and Northern Ireland. The franchise for local elections is narrower, and EU citizens' rights there depend on when they became resident and on bilateral agreements.
• Other nationalities cannot vote in UK parliamentary elections without British or Irish citizenship or qualifying Commonwealth citizenship.

Register and check your own position at GOV.UK register to vote.

What Settlement Does Not Give You

• Permanence through absence. Settlement lapses after more than 2 continuous years outside the UK, and returning then needs a Returning Resident visa costing £726. Settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme allows 5 continuous years, or 4 for Swiss citizens. See our returning residents guide.
• Protection from deportation. A deportation order invalidates leave, and leave obtained by deception can be cancelled.
• A British passport. You travel on the passport of your existing nationality, with your status held as an eVisa.
• A parliamentary vote, unless your nationality gives one.

For a side-by-side comparison, see our settlement versus citizenship guide.

Whether to Go On to Citizenship

Naturalisation costs £1,839 for an adult: £1,709 to apply and a £130 ceremony fee. Registering a child as a British citizen costs £1,000, and registering an adult £1,540. It usually requires 12 months with settlement first, unless you are married to a British citizen, plus the residence, English, Life in the UK and good character requirements. Good character is a citizenship test and is not part of a settlement application.

See our settlement to citizenship journey and our citizenship application guide, and the GOV.UK settlement pages.

Questions and answers