United Kingdom · Citizenship by naturalisation
Indefinite Leave to Remain and naturalisation (and the 'earned settlement' reform)
The current rules still operate — generally 5 years to ILR (3 on Innovator Founder and some Global Talent routes) plus 12 months to naturalisation. But the May 2025 white paper 'Restoring control over the immigration system' proposed a move to 10 years as standard. The consultation ran 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 it later in 2026.
This is the sleeper risk in every UK relocation plan written today. The consultation document stated the changes would apply to everyone in the country who has not already received ILR, and at a Westminster Hall debate on 2 February 2026 the Minister confirmed 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 English test; naturalisation adds a further fee and ceremony. The material cost is time, not money
- Timeline
- 36–120 months — Currently 36–60 months to ILR depending on route; the proposed model would make 120 months standard, with reductions 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 routeabsences generally within 180 days in any 12 monthsB1 English and Life in the UK testno 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, GBP 125,140 for 3) reward employment income — which 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, which 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.