Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department's plans to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain for skilled workers from 5 to 10 years will be applied to (a) prospective applicants only or (b) retrospectively to people already living in the UK.

The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including indefinite leave to remain.

This expansion of the Point-Based System will increase the standard qualifying period for settlement to ten years.

We will introduce reforms to expand the Points-Based System to both our settlement and citizenship rules, so they are based on contribution to the UK, with further details to be set out to Parliament by the end of the year.

Individuals will have the opportunity to reduce the qualifying period to settlement and citizenship based on contributions to the UK economy and society.

We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and will provide further details at that stage.