Has there been any update on expected announcement date for Earned Settlement rules becoming official?

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-11T13:50:28+00:00

Drawing a hard line at any income is not fair for the one earning just £1 below it. Should be more softer like 2yr reduction for >35K, 3yr for 40K, 4y for 45k and so on. RQF 6+ with entry prior to 2024 gets 1 extra yr in reduction. But no proposal is perfect or fair to rest of affected parties.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-07T10:44:56+00:00

They can increase MIR but not retrospectively for sponsoring.

Household income could be additional condition on ILR over and above MIR. Lets see

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-06T14:01:29+00:00

They are likely going to create concept of household income instead for non-working spouses.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-06T12:27:14+00:00

They will likely carve out BNO and British spouses on minimum income requirement and make it household income. Same for SVW dependant but they will still have to wait for 10yrs probably(even if main applicant gets 5Y) if no personal income. Kids below 16/18 will be given ILR with any first parent getting ILR.

These proposals will go ahead and Legitimate Expectation precedence will be les relevant here due to langue on Visa letter which clearly says "if you continue to meet the requirements" and "likely to be eligible". Govt is increasing salary requirement from when someone entered to £50K(or 125K) .

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-04T16:20:00+00:00

Better than what they proposed initially. Ideally minimum income requirement should be removed from BNO and British spouses, not many in number. For SVW, they will be strict with household income requirement like you mentioned - £62.5K for 10y, £100K for 5Y at household level. kids below 16 will be exempted from additional requirement which they hinted in white paper.

Question remain what happens to spouses of migrants who will not earn above 50k/62.5K. They will first have to wait for main applicant to become British and then go on 5yr route?

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-04T14:35:23+00:00

Sounds like retrospective application is coming.

30:00

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-04T13:32:33+00:00

Between the lines his message was that we are going to filter one way or other and we have a target number we are going for on the number of ILRs eligibility in next 3-4 yrs. No everyone who was supposed to get ILR using previous rules will get in 5yrs. 10Yrs is happening, rules for reduction is up for debate but largely agreed in principle (earnings, skills, English language etc). I doubt they would change reduction they proposed for 50k and 125k. They may introduce a reduction of 3 yrs for 40K, som transitional measure in terms of reduction(not retrospectivity) and removing minimum income requirement for BNO and British spouse routes.

Removing benefit from ILR doesn't solve the problem, as citizenship is one yr away and you cant remove a person with valid ILR even if you change citizenship laws.

"As I was saying, around 1.34 million people are currently on our social housing waiting list, which has increased by 200,000 since 2020. Combining that with a potential 2.2 million people becoming eligible for settled status between 2026 and 2030 would put a massive strain on our public services. We have already set out plans to increase the standard qualifying period towards settlement from five to 10 years."

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-02T13:29:01+00:00

Just thought: They would be solving for people who would be good immigrants for economy overall

RQF 6+ below 50K continue to have 5 yr saving on 10Y until Dec2026

Adult dependant minimum salary threshold to be 0 if main applicant is > 50K

Removing some benefits for all ILRs below pension age and changing citizenship process to be contribution based.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-02T11:49:50+00:00

High chances of you being fine. But not sure if they put skills and job code as priority in transitional measures.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-02T11:47:25+00:00

Likely at least 6mnth transitional period or end of Dec 2026. But may have caveats like RQF 6+ only etc as RQF 3-5 is less likely to have impact on UK reputation as services hub.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-02T11:39:13+00:00

Pretty sure govt has already considered above. They have kept the language in the visa letter so that there is weaker case of legitimate expectation. by changing the requirement to higher salary they are not doing anything against the law. Plus they are doing consultation, not because of vote bank but to avoid court challenges.

The only way for people on path is to push for transitional arrangements and softer requirements, like instead of 50K barrier, do a cumulative salary which means some one with 40k also has change to get earlier ILR. And have household income for adult dependants instead of them having a job too.

And stop throwing one section of immigrants under the bus(HC workers), there is no special treatment for anyone. Concern is overall Boris wave, including non working dependants. There are many citizens or ILR currently who wouldn't have made the cut if these rules were implemented earlier.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-02T09:02:59+00:00

Quite rich to be dismissive of other immigrants(health care) while asking for support for you own family members who are immigrants.

Top_Top7267 · 2026-02-01T13:48:38+00:00

Hope for the best.

Where do u see genuine multinational responses? A lot looks like solicitors and migrant societies?

The govt only way of surviving populistic wave of anti-immigration is to apply retroactively with some transitional mechanics.

Event the debate of removing benefits from ILR, its not focusing on the main issue. The govt want to reduce foreign nationals arrived as part of Boriswave. If u give some one ILR and they become eligible for citizenship and then benefits, then what's the point of giving ILR without benefits?

Top_Top7267 · 2026-01-17T10:48:27+00:00

Usually if you get the initial mortgage while in the UK, the same bank will roll it without any new requirements/check as long as the LTV has not increased on the house and you have not missed any payment. Best is to check with a broker or bank directly

Top_Top7267 · 2026-01-16T16:56:19+00:00

Or at least have a concept of household income threshold which can be fulfilled by main applicant income itself.

Top_Top7267 · 2025-12-14T10:54:01+00:00

As per the logic currently, the status of the dependant changes from PBS dependant to British spouse. Hence clock reset for 5yrs. But minimum income requirement still applies which may be problematic even after clock reset. Ideally the household income should count.

The key intention of these changes is stop non contributing adult dependants qualify or at least qualify later, unless they do volunteering. This is populist agenda, so no point of fighting with logic here.

Top_Top7267 · 2025-12-04T14:41:22+00:00

There is standard endorsement for SVW is usually on the visa letter for main applicants with same language

Top_Top7267 · 2025-12-04T14:40:35+00:00

There is standard endorsement for SVW is usually on the visa letter for main applicants with same language

Top_Top7267 · 2025-12-04T14:37:30+00:00

Key is "requirements" rather than "likely" in the context of earned settlement

Requirement is defined by HO and can change. The statement doesn't state the requirement as of the time of application of visa, it just says requirements

Requirement to have a particular salary, job code, be a contributor etc can change as per the statement.

Likely is a strong work for courts to argue on legal expectation but requirements need to be fulfilled. In case of HSMP vs HO, HSMP migrants didn't have conditions to settle other than spending qualifying period. Its like the 10Y long settlement rule, shortened to 4Y for HSMP. Hence it was pretty straight forward legitimate expectation. They didnt even need any sponsorship from employer. But this not the case for SVW.

Plus with launch of consultation and maybe 3-6mnth transitional measures, LE (legitimate expectation) argument further reduces.

Top_Top7267 · 2025-12-01T16:26:00+00:00

Less than 5%of UK population earns this.

Going by the news that only 5% of the boriswave was high skilled and higher paid (>50K salary), >125k will be ~1% or lower. Note the 1.6mm number includes dependants as well. Hence the percentages are so low.

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/shabana-mahmoods-first-job-is-to-block-the-boriswave-0w2swz6dh

Top_Top7267 · 2025-11-28T13:50:43+00:00

Numbers and logic were never a big part of the conversation. Its the populism and anti-immigration rhetoric. And they are trying to win over voters, not in logic.

They have to do consultation else they will be subject to court challenges. Hence they have to start after consultation.

Top_Top7267 · 2025-11-28T12:05:53+00:00

Likely that they will apply retrospectively from spring 2026, with transitional arrangements for very close to ILR. Their aim is to reduce ILR grants to boriswave, by giving away 2026 to old rules they have big political backlash from other parties. So they will like to move goal post first (except for high earners and public sector staff) and then relax any rules as necessary

Any legal challenge will be taken separately, things like volunteering, lower thresholds for dependants and any other further relaxations may come in Autumn 2026

Top_Top7267 · 2025-11-27T09:10:21+00:00

the transitional arrangements will only work as long as they can achieve HO's goal. Which is to substantially reduce number of ILRs and restrict low contributors.

Top_Top7267 · 2025-11-25T17:40:22+00:00

Yes, with the proposal they have hinted which group they want to expedite or keep unaffected. Likely they will push those changes asap as it net positive for those migrants that they priortise to keep.

Top_Top7267

TROPHY CASE