UK ILR Rule Changes 2026: 10-Year Settlement Requirement to Begin in Autumn 2026.
The Home Secretary has said that changes to settlement (or ILR) will take effect in the autumn of 2026. These changes will also apply to people who are already in the UK.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told The Times on March 1, 2026, that the government’s plans to raise the usual qualifying time for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) from 5 years to 10 years will go forward. We have gone into further detail about these “earned settlement” ideas here.
The Home Secretary said that the reforms will go into force in the autumn of 2026. He also said that the new restrictions will apply to people who are already in the UK and on their way to settling down, which is what many people expected, even if there was a lot of public backlash.
We still don’t know if there will be any transitional rules, though. We also don’t know for sure yet what the other ways to shorten the qualifying time (such a high salary, community service, etc.) will be, or if they will be the same as they were in the initial consultation statement or if they will be changed a little bit.
We also don’t know if we can anticipate these details to be made public a long time before the changes take effect in the autumn of 2026, or if the government will announce them and then make adjustments to the immigration rules very rapidly.
This news is probably good for people who are going to be able to get ILR under the present rules before Autumn 2026. If you are in that situation, we strongly encourage you to apply for ILR as soon as you are eligible. This is because you may lose your eligibility and have to wait another 5 years after the new rules go into effect.