The Times reports that up to 1.6 million foreign workers and their family members who arrived in the UK from 2021 could be exempted from the proposal to double the ILR qualifying period from five years to ten.
What We Know (and Don’t)
One government source put the proposal plainly:
“You would allow them to get ILR after five years but you don’t allow them to claim benefits until three or four years later.”
The current procedural position:
The earned settlement consultation (A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, 20 November 2025) closed on 12 February 2026 with over 200,000 responses. No government response has been published.
No final Statement of Changes implementing the ten-year baseline or the proposed contribution-based reductions has been laid before Parliament.
The Times reports that the government intends to confirm the settlement changes in the autumn through amendments to the Immigration Rules, without a separate Bill or automatic Commons vote.
A Longer Wait for Citizenship?
Here is the detail worth watching. At present, most people can apply for British citizenship 12 months after getting ILR, and spouses and civil partners of British citizens can apply as soon as they are settled. Naturalisation would remove any restriction based on a person’s immigration status, although citizens must still meet the ordinary eligibility rules for any particular benefit.
A three- or four-year benefits wait after ILR therefore sits awkwardly with a citizenship application that is possible after just one year, unless the waiting period were built into the benefits rules themselves, based on something like length of residence rather than immigration status. Either way, the practical message is the same: this could mean a longer overall path to full status in the UK, whether through an extended naturalisation timeline or benefit rules that continue beyond it. Nothing has been decided or published, but the government has already said that citizenship reforms will follow and will build on the settlement changes, so it is something to be aware of when planning ahead.
What This Means for You
Prepare for... An autumn Statement of Changes on qualifying periods, with any benefits and citizenship measures following on a slower legislative timetable.
Expect changes to... The naturalisation framework in due course. Citizenship reform is expressly contemplated, although no amending legislation has yet been published.
Strategic Advice
For Individuals
If you qualify under the current Rules and your application is properly evidenced and ready to submit, there is a strong argument against delaying merely in the hope that favourable transitional arrangements will be introduced.
If you already hold ILR and meet the naturalisation requirements, review whether there is any reason to delay.
For Employers & Advisers
Audit your sponsored population by ILR eligibility date. Anyone qualifying before the autumn changes should be supported to consider applying promptly.
Brief sponsored workers that future grants of ILR could cease to carry immediate access to specified public funds. Current ILR still allows access where the person otherwise qualifies.
Watch for the government response to the consultation and the legislative programme under the new Prime Minister.
Final thought: If this reported compromise is adopted, the apparent softening of the settlement reforms may be paid for somewhere else in the system. Some of those who arrived from 2021 may retain a five-year route to ILR, but part of the price could be moved downstream to citizenship. The practical effect may be that settlement remains available after five years, but full security and access to citizenship are pushed further into the future.
ECAA Practice Update
As of mid-July 2026, our own caseload is beginning to receive decisions on ECAA applications for both extensions of stay and settlement, submitted during the first week of October 2025. That indicates a period of approximately nine months in the cases currently being decided, we hope this will speed up.
Need tailored advice or timeline modelling? 📩 Reply to this post or book a consultation with Strand Legal Consultancy.
Written by William O’Neill, Immigration Expert & Founder, The Mobility Brief 🔗 Read all posts | 🟢 Join our WhatsApp Channel