UK settlement rules: most migrants now wait 10 years for ILR, unless they earn over £50,000

Britain will make most foreign workers wait 10 years instead of five before they can apply for permanent residency, known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR), Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told Parliament on Monday. The new rules take effect next year and apply to people already in the UK, according to Al Jazeera, citing AP and Reuters.

For Pakistani families with a relative part way through the five-year path on a work visa, the change can mean five more years of visa extensions and fees before settlement.

Who waits how long under the new ILR rules

For scale, the UK median salary is about £39,000, so most workers fall below the £50,000 line. At today's pound rate of about Rs 371, £50,000 is roughly Rs 1.86 crore a year and £25,000 about Rs 93 lakh.

New conditions for every applicant

Applicants will also be refused if they:

• have a criminal record
• cannot speak English to a high standard
• owe money to the government
• have paid less than three years of national insurance contributions

"Settlement should not be automatic. It should be earned," Mahmood said. "Those who contribute most will settle fastest."

Why care workers were exempted

The government first proposed a 10 to 15 year wait for lower-skilled workers last year. Unions and parts of the Labour Party pushed back over care workers, many of whom arrived in the early 2020s to fill gaps left after Brexit and the pandemic. Mahmood said the exemption was for those "who worked hard and answered our call when we needed them".

What to do if your family is on a UK visa

1. Check the salary on the visa holder's current payslip against the £50,000 and £25,000 lines; that now decides the route.
2. Keep national insurance records in order, since three years of contributions become a hard requirement.
3. Plan the English test early if the visa holder has not already passed one at a high level.
4. Wait for the Home Office's published rules before paying any fees or advisers; the detail, including transition dates, comes with the rule change.

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