Recently, the Home Office has made stringent announcements, as we feared, regarding a major overhaul of the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) rules through the proposed “Earned Settlement” system. I am writing to seek the urgent advice on this proposal, outlined in the “A Fairer Pathway to Settlement” Command Paper (November 2025) which include extending the qualifying period for ILR from 5 years to 10 years for many Skilled Worker visa holders unless they meet the new high-salary threshold > £50,270.
This is particularly important because the new rules are expected to take effect around April 2026. As my ILR eligibility date is in April 2026, I am concerned about whether my application would still be assessed under the current 5-year ILR criteria if I submit it in March 2026, before any new settlement rules come into effect.
Could you please forward this question to the company’s immigration solicitor and ask whether applying in March 2026 would allow my application to be assessed under the current ILR criteria, rather than the proposed new requirements?
For reference, here are my details:
• My Skilled Worker visa started on 9 April 2021 and is valid until 2 Jul 2026. I will complete 5 years on the Skilled Worker route in 9 April 2026.
• My job is RQF level 6 job.
• My job role is under SOC code is 2134 – Programmers and software development professionals.
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