United Kingdom · Citizenship by naturalisation
Indefinite Leave to Remain and naturalisation (and the 'earned settlement' reform)
The current rules still apply. That generally means 5 years to ILR (3 on Innovator Founder and some Global Talent routes), plus 12 months to naturalisation. But the May 2025 white paper on restoring control over the immigration system proposed moving to 10 years as the standard wait. The consultation ran from November 2025 to February 2026 and drew over 200,000 responses. As of July 2026, no rules have been laid and no start date is confirmed. The Home Secretary indicated in March 2026 that she intends to enact the change later in 2026.
This is the sleeper risk in every UK relocation plan written today. The consultation document stated that the changes would apply to everyone in the country who has not already received ILR. At a Westminster Hall debate on 2 February 2026, the Minister confirmed that transitional arrangements remain under consultation and could give no assurances to existing applicants. A family arriving now on a 3-year Innovator Founder clock cannot safely assume that clock survives.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- ILR application fees, plus the Life in the UK test and the English test. Naturalisation adds a further fee and a ceremony. The real cost here is time, not money.
- Route type
- By residence
- Timeline
- 3–10 years (Currently, the wait to ILR runs 36–60 months depending on the route. The proposed model would set 120 months as the standard, with reductions available for high earners.)
- Physical presence
- Generally no more than 180 days absent in any 12-month period across the qualifying years, plus a residence requirement in the final year before naturalisation
- Family
- Spouse or partnerDependent children
- Permanent residency
- Currently 5 years standard, 3 years on Innovator Founder and Global Talent (exceptional talent)
- Citizenship
- 12 months after ILR (immediate for spouses of British citizens)
- Language test
- B1 English, plus the Life in the UK test
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Continuous lawful residence on a qualifying route.Absences generally within 180 days in any 12 months.B1 English and the Life in the UK test.No serious immigration or criminal breaches.
- The reform is not law. Any adviser quoting the 10-year rule as settled, or the 3-year high-earner rule as available, is ahead of the facts.
- No grandfathering has been promised. The explicit refusal to reassure existing applicants is the most important sentence in the whole consultation.
- The proposed earnings thresholds, GBP 50,270 for 5 years and GBP 125,140 for 3, reward employment income. That is precisely what most UHNW clients do not have. A family living on investment income could find itself on the slowest track despite the largest balance sheet.
- ILR itself lapses after 2 years outside the UK. That sits awkwardly with the tax incentive to leave before the long-term resident IHT clock hits 10 years. The immigration and tax clocks now push in opposite directions. This is the central UK planning tension of 2026.