📢 ILR UPDATE: WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS NOW SAID (IN SIMPLE TERMS)

📢 ILR UPDATE: WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS NOW SAID (IN SIMPLE TERMS) Hello family. The Home Office has published its final decision on the new ILR rules. They now call it “Earned Settlement”. We read the whole document so you don't have to. Please read to the end and share with someone who needs this. 👇 1. THE MAIN CHANGE • The normal wait for ILR moves from 5 years to 10 years. • Some people can get it faster: – 3 years if you earn £125,141 or more – 5 years if you earn £50,271 or more, OR you work in a listed public service job (like nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers), OR you are the partner, parent or child of a British citizen • Some people wait longer: 20 years if you break immigration rules (for example overstaying, breaking visa conditions, or lying in an application), or if you use certain public funds in the 5 years before you apply. Which benefits count has not been announced yet. 2. WHAT EVERYONE MUST HAVE • No criminal record in the UK. Even a caution or a fine counts. • No debt to Government: NHS, tax, National Insurance, Home Office legal costs. • English at B2 level (it is B1 now, so the bar is higher). • Pass the Life in the UK test. • Earnings of at least £12,571 a year in 5 of the last 7 years (10-year route). Couples can add their earnings together (£25,142). • Children, people aged 65+ and people with a medical condition are exempt from some of these. 3. CARE WORKERS ALREADY IN THE UK If you came as a care worker, or switched into the care route, before May 2025, you keep the 5-year route IF: ✅ you stayed in real, sponsored care work ✅ you meet the salary requirement (£25,000 a year) ✅ you meet the minimum standards above (no criminal record, English, etc.) If you don't qualify after 5 years, you won't get ILR just for time served. But you can apply for another 5-year Health and Care visa (care work only, no public funds) and try again. If your sponsor loses its licence, from 1 February 2027 you get 120 days to find a new job offer, plus 60 more days to sort out your visa. That is 180 days in total. If you started care work after May 2025, you are on the 10-year route. Nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants who came before May 2025 also keep the 5-year route. 4. WHAT THE DOCUMENT ANSWERS AND WHAT IT DOES NOT Senior Care Worker, Care Coordinator, Deputy Manager? The protection is for care workers who “entered or switched into” the route before May 2025 and stay in genuine sponsored work. The document says NOTHING about promotions or job code (SOC) changes. So the honest answer is: not answered yet. Please do not panic and do not guess. Keep your promotion letters, new contract, payslips and Certificate of Sponsorship. Ask your employer to confirm in writing that your change of role was handled properly. Dependants who joined after 12 May 2025? • Partner who came together with the main visa holder: settles at the same time, if the requirements are met. • Partner who joined later: has their own clock and must complete the same qualifying period from when they joined. Example from the document: main holder on a 5-year route, partner joins 2 years later. The main holder applies after 5 years and the partner applies 2 years after that. • Children under 18: settle with their parents. No income, debt, English or Life in the UK test needed. Criminality checks still apply. • Young adults 18 to 24 who are still dependants: settle with the family. They must meet the adult requirements (English, Life in the UK) but not the income one. • Age 25 and over: must qualify on their own or move to their own visa. What is NOT clear: whether dependants who joined after May 2025 are covered by the care worker 5-year protection. Government figures count care workers' dependants as eligible, which is encouraging, but it is not a written rule. We are waiting for the guidance. 5. START PREPARING NOW (our suggestion) 📁 P60s and payslips for every year 📁 Contracts, promotion letters, Certificates of Sponsorship 📁 Passport and eVisa access 📁 Proof of relationship and children's documents 📁 Plan for your B2 English test and Life in the UK test 📁 Clear any NHS or tax debt, keep a clean record, don't breach visa conditions IMPORTANT: This is our simple summary of the Government's published response, not legal advice. The document does not give a start date, and more guidance is still coming. For your own case, speak to an OISC-regulated adviser or immigration solicitor.