2025 Immigration White Paper: What Is Law, Decided, and Proposed

Background: Why This White Paper Matters

In May 2025, the UK Government published its Immigration White Paper, titled "Restoring Control over the Immigration System." This document sets out the Government's vision for reforming legal immigration to the UK.

A white paper is a statement of policy intent, not law. What turns a proposal in it into a rule is a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules, laid before Parliament and naming the date it takes effect. Several of these proposals have made that journey since May 2025. The largest, the change to settlement, was decided on 2 November 2026 but has not yet been laid. This guide says which is which, as at the date stamped on this page.

The proposals reach most people who hold a UK visa, are applying for one, or are working towards settlement (indefinite leave to remain) or British citizenship.

The Headline Proposal: Settlement After 10 Years

The largest proposal was to increase the standard qualifying period for settlement from 5 years to 10. The white paper put it in one sentence: "This expansion of the Point-Based System will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years." It said a 5-year pathway would continue "for non-UK dependants of British citizens", and that settlement rights for victims of domestic violence and abuse would be kept.

The government consulted on how this would work, under the name "earned settlement", from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026. The consultation proposed a 10-year baseline moved up or down by listed factors. The earned settlement consultation received 204,667 responses: 202,241 from individuals and 2,426 from organisations.

What Was Decided on 2 November 2026

On 2 November 2026 the government published its response, A Fairer Pathway to Settlement (CP 1707). It keeps 10 years as the starting point and sets four fixed pathways (Table 1, page 42):

Everyone must also meet mandatory requirements: good character and no criminal record, no government debt, B2 English, the Life in the UK test, and sustained contribution. The response dropped the consultation's 15-year path for jobs below degree level, and its reductions for volunteering and C1 English.

The decision is not yet law. 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. They will be implemented over the course of 2027." Until then the current qualifying periods apply. See our guide to earned settlement for the decided model, and our comparison of the proposal and the decision.

Who the Response Places Where

• Skilled Worker visa holders. The 5-year pathway needs earnings of £50,271 in 3 of the last 5 years, or work in one of the listed public service jobs. Otherwise the standard is 10 years. Skilled Workers sponsored before April 2024 can extend on current salary terms until 2035.
• Health and Care Worker visa holders. Doctors, nurses and the other listed health jobs are on the 5-year public service list. Care workers who entered or switched into the route before May 2025 keep 5 years if they meet the conditions; those who joined later are on the 10-year pathway. See our guide to care workers.
• Partners and other family of British citizens. Kept at 5 years as a "British connection", subject to the mandatory requirements. See our guide to partners and children.
• Global Talent and Innovator Founder. The 3-year talent limb, the "Highest Talent Group", is not yet defined and is "Subject to review pending MAC report".
• Refugees. Pathways of 5, 10, 20 or 30 years depending on the protection route and how the person entered (pages 33–34).
• Long residence. The route will close, and time on temporary routes such as Student and Graduate will not count towards settlement (pages 19–20). See our guide to which visas count.
• Victims of domestic abuse, bereaved partners, Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders and the EU Settlement Scheme keep their existing settlement arrangements (pages 21–23). Most of these groups will still need to meet the new criminality rule and the B2 English standard.

Is It a Points System?

No. The white paper's "Point-Based System" is the name of the UK's existing visa system. Neither the consultation nor the decision scores settlement in points: the consultation adjusted a number of years up or down, and the decision uses the fixed pathways above.

English Language: B1 to B2

The white paper proposed raising the English level for settlement from B1 (intermediate) to B2 (upper intermediate) on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages scale, and raising it from B1 to B2 for Skilled Workers and other routes that already had a language requirement.

Both have since been made. New Skilled Worker applications have needed B2 since 8 January 2026. For settlement, a change to the Immigration Rules laid on 5 March 2026 raises the level to B2 from 26 March 2027 — an enacted change with a start date, rather than a proposal. The Home Office describes it as covering most people applying to settle and estimates around 200 hours of learning between the two levels.

B1 means understanding the main points of clear standard speech and handling most situations while travelling. B2 means understanding the main ideas of complex text and holding a conversation with a degree of fluency. GOV.UK still gives B1 as the level for settlement today. Our guide to English language tests for UK visas covers the approved tests at each level.

Salary Thresholds

The general Skilled Worker salary threshold rose to £38,700 on 4 April 2024 and to £41,700 on 22 July 2025, which is the figure in force. The white paper proposes keeping the threshold under review, tracking earnings, so it may rise again — but no further figure and no date has been published.

The skill level moved too. Since 22 July 2025 a new applicant's job must be at degree level (RQF 6). Occupations below that are open only to someone who already held Skilled Worker permission before that date, unless the occupation is on the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List.

Impact on Employers

A higher threshold narrows which roles can be sponsored, and the effect falls on lower-paying sectors: social care, hospitality, parts of healthcare and education. The discounts that remain are the ones set out in the rules — the £33,400 floor in defined circumstances, and national pay scales for health and education jobs.

The Graduate Route

The Graduate route lets someone who has completed a UK degree stay and work without sponsorship. The white paper questioned whether it was working as intended, and the answer has now been made.

GOV.UK gives the length as:

• 2 years for applications made on or before 31 December 2026
• 18 months for applications made on or after 1 January 2027
• 3 years for PhD holders, unchanged

The route was not scrapped, and it was not cut to 1 year, which was one of the options discussed at the time.

Family Visas

The minimum income requirement for family visas rose to £29,000 on 11 April 2024. The further stages announced at the time, £34,500 and then £38,700, were never written into the Immigration Rules.

The white paper does not commit to a figure. What it says is that the government had "already commissioned the MAC to look at the financial requirements on family routes" — the Migration Advisory Committee, the independent body that advises the government on immigration. That review was published on 10 June 2025, and no government response to it has been published. The white paper does commit to new English language requirements for adult dependants of workers and students, and to tightening the suitability rules on the family routes.

Made, and Not Made

The white paper is a year and a half old, and parts of it are now rules. Sorting them is the most useful thing this guide can do:

In the Immigration Rules

• Skilled Worker general salary threshold: £38,700 from 4 April 2024, then £41,700 from 22 July 2025
• Skilled Worker skill level raised to degree level (RQF 6) for new applicants, from 22 July 2025
• English at B2 for new Skilled Worker applications, from 8 January 2026
• Family visa minimum income £29,000, from 11 April 2024
• Care workers no longer able to bring dependants, from March 2024
• Removal of the 20% going rate discount for shortage occupations, from April 2024

In the Rules, With a Future Start Date

• Graduate route shortened to 18 months, for applications made on or after 1 January 2027 (3 years for PhD holders, unchanged)
• English at B2 for settlement, from 26 March 2027, laid on 5 March 2026

Decided, Not Yet Laid

• Earned settlement: the 10-year standard qualifying period, with 3, 5 and 20-year pathways and mandatory requirements. Decided on 2 November 2026; the Home Secretary said the rules will begin to be laid from December 2026 and be brought in over 2027
• Closure of the Long Residence route. Decided on 2 November 2026; no date published
• For care workers whose sponsor loses its licence: from 1 February 2027, up to 120 days to find a new job offer and a further 60 days to resolve their visa

Still Only Proposed

• Any further rise in the Skilled Worker salary threshold above £41,700
• Any further rise in the family income requirement above £29,000. The £34,500 and £38,700 stages announced in April 2024 were never made

What Happens Next

A white paper is a statement of intent, not legislation, and the record above shows the different stages. Some of it became rules within months. The settlement reform took eighteen months to reach a decision and has still to be laid.

The next step for settlement is a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules. The government's response says it will publish further guidance with technical and operational detail before implementation (page 6), and the Home Secretary said an impact assessment will be published around the time the rules are laid. Statements of changes appear in the GOV.UK collection with their start dates.

Which Parts Touch Which Route

Skilled Worker Visa Holders

The most parts of it land here: the salary threshold and the skill level, both already changed; English at B2 for new applications since 8 January 2026; B2 at settlement from 26 March 2027; and the earned settlement pathways decided on 2 November 2026, which are not yet law. Read our Skilled Worker visa guide for the rules in force.

Family and Partner Visa Holders

The income requirement is £29,000 and nothing published says it is changing. Under the earned settlement decision, partners of British citizens keep a 5-year pathway as a "British connection"; partners on family routes not sponsored by a British citizen move to a longer pathway. See our spouse visa guide for the rules in force.

Students and Graduates

The Graduate route is 2 years for applications made on or before 31 December 2026 and 18 months for applications made on or after 1 January 2027, with 3 years for PhD holders throughout. The date that matters is the date of the application, not the date the course ends.

Those Already Settled

Nothing in the earned settlement decision takes settlement away from people who already hold it. The government's response does not change the time between settlement and British citizenship.

Further Reading

For deeper analysis of individual proposals, see these guides:

• Earned settlement: the decided model
• The 2025 proposal and the 2026 decision compared
• The 10-year standard path to settlement
• B2 English requirement: what it means
• Graduate route review: latest updates
• Salary threshold increase timeline
• Current settlement requirements

For the official document, visit the GOV.UK White Paper page.

Questions and answers