How to get UK ILR in 3 years in 2026

Three years if you earn £125,141, five at £50,271 and ten for everyone else: on 2 November 2026 Britain confirmed its earned settlement system. The thresholds, the mandatory tests, who is exempt and what to do if you already live in the UK on a visa.

Details

To get UK ILR in 3 years under the new rules, you need to have earned at least £125,141 (about $170,000) a year in three of the last four years, or hold a visa from the highest talent group. Everyone else will reach Indefinite Leave to Remain, Britain's permanent residence, after 5, 10 or 20 years. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out the system in the House of Commons on 2 November 2026, and the Home Office published the policy as A Fairer Pathway to Settlement, command paper CP 1707.

The headline is not the numbers but the philosophy. Until now ILR was close to automatic: five years on the right visa, two exams, done. From now on the clock depends on what you earn, where you work and how cleanly you have kept to the rules. Settlement has gone from a season ticket to a loyalty scheme, and the tier is set by your tax bill.

What the government decided on 2 November 2026

The plan to move the standard qualifying period from 5 to 10 years first appeared in the Immigration White Paper of May 2025. A consultation followed in November 2025 and drew 204,667 responses, 73% of them from visa holders and 18% from British citizens. Some proposals were softened as a result. The 15-year path for workers below RQF level 6 (the sixth level of the UK qualifications framework, roughly a bachelor's degree) was dropped: those workers now sit on the standard 10-year path.

As we noted in September in our piece on the 10-year ILR plan, the big question was whether the reform would reach people already in the country. The answer is direct: applications are judged under the rules in force on the date of the decision, not the date of arrival. Only a few narrow groups get transitional protection, covered below.

How long ILR takes under the new rules

The thresholds track income tax bands: £12,571 is where the basic rate starts, £50,271 the higher rate and £125,141 the additional rate. If the tax bands move, the settlement thresholds move with them. The government has also put a number on the top tier: an additional-rate taxpayer contributes around £1.5 million (about $2.1 million) to the Treasury over a lifetime.

One detail matters a lot: the best years approach. Parental leave, illness or a lean year do not push you onto a longer path. On the 10-year path you need the threshold in five of seven years, on the 5-year path in three of five. Couples can pool income to reach £25,142 together, even if one partner works part time to look after children.

The mandatory requirements for everyone

Four conditions cannot be offset by salary or profession:

• Criminal record. Any adult criminal record in the UK means refusal, including court fines, suspended sentences and police cautions. Until now automatic refusal started at a 12-month sentence. Overseas convictions also count where the conduct would be an offence in the UK.
• Government debt. No unpaid tax, no unpaid National Insurance (the UK social security contributions that fund pensions and benefits), no NHS debt and no litigation costs owed to the Home Office.
• B2 English. That is the level of an A-level in a foreign language. Today B1 is enough for ILR. C1 English does not shorten the path.
• Life in the UK test. The exam on British history, law and customs stays and is being updated.

On top of that comes contribution: at least three years of National Insurance payments. Children, people aged 65 and over and those prevented by a physical or mental condition are exempt from the income threshold.

Which visas no longer count towards ILR

This is the hardest blow for young professionals. The separate 10-year Long Residence route is closing. Only time on routes designed to lead to settlement will count: the Skilled Worker visa, the Global Talent visa, Innovator Founder, Scale Up, UK Ancestry and the partner visa.

Time on Student, Graduate, High Potential Individual, Youth Mobility, seasonal and temporary work visas, Global Business Mobility and visitor visas will not count. Three years of study plus two on a Graduate visa are now simply five years lived in Britain, not half the road to ILR.

Who keeps the old rules

Hong Kong BN(O) holders (5 years), members of the armed forces, the Windrush generation and refugees on official resettlement schemes keep their existing paths. Partners, parents and children of British citizens, and Commonwealth citizens on UK Ancestry with a UK-born grandparent, stay on the 5-year path. The EU Settlement Scheme runs under its own rules.

Three groups get transitional protection. Care workers who entered the route before the May 2025 White Paper and earn at least £25,000 (about $34,000) keep a 5-year path. Healthcare and education assistants on national pay scales who arrived before May 2025 do too. Skilled Workers who entered before April 2024 under the old salary thresholds can keep extending their visas on current terms until 2035.

What to do if you already live in the UK

• Map your path now. Pull your income for the last five to seven years from your tax returns and compare it with the thresholds. The gap between 5 and 10 years can come down to one pay rise or a change of employer.
• Clear any debts. An unpaid tax bill or a forgotten NHS invoice now costs years, not a fine.
• Get to B2 English early and sit the exam well before your visa runs out.
• Check your family's status. A partner who arrived with you settles at the same time; one who joined later completes their own period. Children aged 18 to 24 settle with the family, from 25 they qualify on their own.
• Stay off public funds in the five years before you apply, or the path stretches to 20 years.

The start date will be announced separately: the Home Office will publish technical guidance first, and the requirements take effect once they are written into the Immigration Rules. We cover the tax side in our guide to UK tax residency and the full picture in our overview of permanent residence in the UK.

When other countries make more sense

Ten years to ILR plus another year to a passport is longer than it takes to naturalise in several EU countries. Germany allows citizenship after 5 years, see our page on German citizenship. Portugal offers residency for passive income and remote work, see Portugal residency. Spain issues a digital nomad visa for people working for foreign clients. If you want a second passport as insurance, the fastest options are in our citizenship catalogue, for example Paraguay. A comparison of 45 countries is in our guide to the easiest countries for permanent residency.

Our services for the UK and alternatives

We map your path to ILR under the new rules, prepare visas that count towards settlement and line up a plan B elsewhere.

If your route to settlement runs through your own business, we can handle company registration in the UK or another country. Still weighing up the capital? Start with our guide to London.

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