Earned Settlement Proposals – student impact and UKCISA's position
November 12, 2026
In May 2025, the government published an Immigration White Paper titled ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’. Alongside many other proposals impacting students, the paper included the intention to reform the current rules around qualifying for settlement in the UK. In November 2025, the government released a statement on earned settlement titled, ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, and sought feedback on their proposed changes. On 2 November 2026, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, gave a statement to parliament on the 'Earned Settlement' proposals and on the same day, the government published their most recent response to the consultation.
How do the recent proposed changes impact international students?
The changes proposed in the government’s response are significant, impacting people in a huge range of circumstances. The full report can be read here.
The current Immigration Rules includes a Long Residence route. The Rules detail the requirements that need to be met to apply for Long Residence, including that the applicant must have spent a qualifying period of 10 years lawfully in the UK. One of the proposals in the recent government response is that the government intends to close the current Long Residence route. Furthermore, the Student route and Graduate route are included in a list of immigration categories that won’t qualify for any of the pathways to Earned Settlement. This is a significant and detrimental change for international students and graduates in the UK, who would be eligible, in line with the current requirements to apply under Long Residence, and are progressing towards the current qualifying 10-year period. The response also offers no transitional protection for those it will affect.
When will these changes happen?
In her statement to parliament on 2 November 2026, the Home Secretary stated that the proposals that have been announced will begin to be laid from the December Immigration Rules and implemented over the course of 2027. Impact assessments and other detailed guidance will be provided by the Home Secretary as the changes are rolled out. UKCISA will analyse the changes impacting students and any implementation dates when they are released.
UKCISA’s response
We have grave concerns about excluding lawful residence on routes such as the Student and Graduate route from the qualifying period for Earned Settlement - particularly for people who are already close to qualifying for indefinite leave to remain.
International students are an integral part of our communities and society. They enrich campuses, contribute to the UK’s academic and local communities, and help build lasting connections between the UK and countries around the world. The proposed earned settlement changes risk sending a deeply discouraging message to individuals who have invested in the UK, that despite their commitment and contribution, they are not welcome. This stands in stark contrast to the positive role international students play across the country and the value they bring to the education and skills sector and the communities they become part of.
We also challenge the suggestion in the government’s response that settlement is currently achieved by students simply through the passage of time. The existing long residence route is neither automatic nor guaranteed. Those who reach the 10-year threshold do so by maintaining lawful immigration status over a prolonged period, meeting strict eligibility requirements, complying with visa conditions, and paying significant immigration application and health surcharge fees. Describing this journey as merely accumulating time on different routes does not reflect the reality of the dedication, resilience and investment required to achieve long residence.
Lawful and continuous residence should remain a meaningful consideration, regardless of the route on which a person originally entered the UK. Many of the thousands of respondents to the government’s consultation also advocated for the retention of the Long Residence route because they recognised the reality of people’s lives, not simply the immigration category through which they entered the UK. Respondents argued that people who have lived lawfully and continuously in the UK, built long-term lives here and developed substantial ties should retain a pathway to settlement, even if part of their residence was spent on a route described as temporary.
At a minimum, robust transitional protections must apply to people already progressing towards settlement. This is especially important for those approaching the current qualifying threshold. They have made long-term decisions in the legitimate expectation that lawful residence accumulated under the existing rules would continue to be recognised.
UKCISA submitted a response to the government’s consultation to this effect and will continue to message this to government. We will analyse the changes impacting international students and any implementation dates, when they are released.
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