Revised Earned Settlement Policy To Be Unveiled Before The End Of 2026
The UK Home Secretary confirmed that the government's revised 'earned settlement' immigration policy will be published by the end of 2026. The proposal, which suggests extending the baseline qualifying period for settlement, has faced significant scrutiny from parliamentary committees and public consultations.
Why it matters
Changes to immigration settlement policies have profound implications for the rights and long-term status of foreign nationals living and working in the UK.
On 15 September 2026, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood MP, appeared before the Home Affairs Committee to give oral evidence on the work of the Home Office. A significant portion of the session was devoted to migration, including several exchanges directly addressing the Government's earned settlement proposals. In this alert, we summarise the key points confirmed by the Home Secretary, including that the post-consultation earned settlement policy is due to be published before the end of this year.
In May 2025, the Government published its immigration White Paper, including an intention to introduce a new contribution-based 'earned settlement' model. Under this policy, a default ten-year baseline qualifying period for settlement was proposed (a significant increase on the current five-year baseline), with the possibility of this being either reduced or increased according to a range of positive and negative factors.
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