Earned Settlement Proposal - Government Consultation

Many of you will have heard about the proposed changes to qualifying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). The UK Government is currently running a consultation inviting sponsors, employers and others to complete a survey to offer their views on the proposed changes to the UK Immigration White Paper.

Some of the proposals that could impact members of the GC network are:

• Minimum income threshold of £12,570/year might be required as part of baseline qualifying. Certain groups (including ministers of religion) might be excluded or waived, but as this has yet to be confirmed it would be helpful to express support for it. If a mandatory baseline income is set at this level, it could be that some/many mission partners will never qualify for ILR, no matter if they speak excellent English or can demonstrate a positive impact on wider society.
• Higher levels of English could reduce the baseline of 10 years, so B2 would still be the minimum but achieving C1 it could be beneficial.
• Some low-qualified jobs might have a baseline requirement of 15 years.
• It is unclear if the changes would impact people already in the UK, so it would be helpful to share our views if we think those who started out should get the current rules or automatically have to meet the new rules when they come in
• The requirement to prove things like the social impact of volunteering work/charitable work. The Government already accepts the premise that such work is positive, but is unclear how is should be demonstrated or evidenced so have your say.
• How children who become adults during the qualifying period, and how dependants of visa holders should be treated is also under consideration.

It is clear that there is an intention to not only increase the baseline qualifying time (most likely 10 years), but to make it a moveable target dependent on numerous criteria. Based on current understanding, deductions against the baseline qualifying period for positive achievement in several categories will not be cumulative.

For the reasons stated above, we encourage you to engage with the consultation process to help shape the Government's future approach to immigration. Here is the link for the consultation - click "respond online" and fill it in.

GC is grateful to Sarah Opper of YWAM for bringing this to our attention after attending a briefing about Earned Settlement.