Longer 10 year qualifying periods for ILR and citizenship
On 12 May 2025 the government published an immigration white paper setting out their plans for changes to immigration rules and requirements to make it harder to move to and settle in the UK, with a view to reducing immigration. Further details and the timescale for these changes have not yet been published.
One of the main, and most surprising, changes mentioned is to increase the qualifying periods for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and citizenship to 10 years.
While the current 10 year 'long residence' ILR route was not specifically mentioned in the immigration white paper, if the qualifying period for the standard ILR route will be increased to 10 years it is logical to assume that the qualifying period for the 'long residence' ILR route may be increased even further.
Statements since the original announcement imply that the changes will apply to everyone, not just new visa applicants, but mentions of ‘earned settlement (ILR)’ and ‘earned citizenship’ may mean that some could have shorter qualifying periods potentially based on their employment or other activities in the UK.
The government have stated there will be a consultation on these changes and SIT will work with other universities and sector bodies to do everything possible to contribute to this and any other discussions around these changes, and to provide more details as soon as possible when they are published.
Until more details of the ILR changes are published it is difficult to advise visa holders when they may be eligible to apply for ILR. SIT is assisting visa holders who have already reached, or are close to, the point they are eligible to apply for ILR (under the current rules) to hopefully apply before the ILR rules change.
The information below is based on the current ILR rules and will be updated as soon as possible after details of the new ILR rules are published.
Those who have spent a continuous period of 10 years in the UK under different visas may be eligible to apply for ILR under the ‘Long residence’ route. Time under visas which do not lead to settlement under the standard 5 year route (such as Student/ Tier 4, Graduate etc.) can be counted towards 10 year ILR.
