UK doubles wait for permanent settlement to 10 years, leaving thousands of Nepalis facing longer wait

Britain has doubled the wait for permanent settlement for most migrants, from five years to 10, in a sweeping overhaul of immigration rules announced in Parliament on Monday.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the new earned settlement model, under which settlement will no longer follow automatically after five years. How long a migrant waits will instead depend on their earnings, their contribution and their conduct.

Some groups can still qualify after five years. They include people earning at least 50,271 pounds a year, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dental practitioners and teachers working in health and education, refugees who arrived through legal routes, and care workers who earn at least 25,000 pounds a year and arrived before May 2025.

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The fastest route is three years, for people earning more than 125,141 pounds a year and for highly skilled migrants on Global Talent or Innovator Founder visas.

Others face much longer waits. Migrants who reached Britain by small boat or another unlawful route and then work or study must wait 20 years, or 30 years if they do not work or study, while migrants who claim state benefits must wait 20 years.

Everyone seeking settlement must first meet four conditions: no criminal record, English at B2 level, no debt to the taxpayer or to public funds, and a record of continuous National Insurance contributions. The B2 English requirement takes effect on 26 March 2027, with the current B1 level applying until then.

The new system is not yet law. London immigration solicitor Raju Thapa said the rules announced on Monday will be put before Parliament in December 2026 and are due to come into force in 2027.

The change will be felt sharply by Nepalis working in Britain, especially in hospitality. Abhishek Kumar Shrestha, a chef in London, spent nine years in Britain before returning to Nepal and came back on a work permit four years and 11 months ago. He was in the final stages of preparing his settlement application when the announcement came, and said many of his fellow chefs, who had expected to qualify within a year, now face a 10-year wait.

Thapa said restaurant and hotel workers will struggle to reach the 50,271-pound threshold, leaving most of them facing the full 10-year wait.

The government says more than 500,000 migrants will have to wait longer than five years. The Home Office estimates that 196,000 care workers and their adult dependants could settle between 2026 and 2030, at a long-term cost of 9.5 billion pounds to the taxpayer.

Mahmood said settlement is one of the most valuable rights the country can offer, and that those who contribute more will qualify sooner. The government consulted on the plans last year and received more than 200,000 responses, with sharp disagreement over how far the new rules should reach people already living in Britain and working towards settlement.