Latest earned settlement articles
Free Movement Blog
05 Mar 2026
Migration Advisory Committee call for evidence on Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas
The government’s Migration Advisory Committee is looking at how well or otherwise the current visa routes for unsponsored highly skilled individuals work. Many immigration specialists say they basically don’t work. We’ve seen repeated amendments over the last few years and the effect has been to make it harder to get these types of visas. Is […]
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Free Movement Blog
05 Mar 2026
Migration Advisory Committee call for evidence on Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas
The government’s Migration Advisory Committee is looking at how well or otherwise the current visa routes for unsponsored highly skilled individuals work. Many immigration specialists say they basically don’t work. We’ve seen repeated amendments over the last few years and the effect has been to make it harder to get these types of visas. Is […]
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UK Home Office
03 Mar 2026
Form: Settle in the UK as a Grenfell Tower survivor: form SET(GT)
Form to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK if you were granted limited leave under the Grenfell immigration policy for survivors.
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Free Movement Blog
17 Feb 2026
Man stranded abroad challenges Home Office deportation decision taken whilst travelling
Sohail Tasib, a 31-year-old Pakistani national who held indefinite leave to remain in the UK from the age of five, walked out of prison in 2020 following a 52-month sentence for serious drugs offences. Due to an administrative error, the Home Office was not notified that Mr Tasib met the criteria for deportation as a […]
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Free Movement Blog
11 Feb 2026
Labour’s earned settlement proposals: destroying a British success story
In response to concerns about high levels of immigration, the Labour government has announced plans to increase the normal minimum period it takes for a migrant to be eligible for settled status from five years to ten years or longer. The earned settlement proposals, when implemented, will have a disastrous impact on migrant integration into […]
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Free Movement Blog
05 Feb 2026
A fairer pathway? How the “earned settlement” proposals risk discriminating against migrant women
We are hurtling towards the deadline for the government’s “earned settlement” consultation, ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement‘, which closes on 12 February 2026. Whilst there are many elements of the proposals which certainly cannot be considered “fair” to migrants living and providing meaningful contributions to the UK, there is one group that will certainly be […]
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Free Movement Blog
03 Feb 2026
Can I apply for indefinite leave to remain early?
Given the enormous changes to the settlement framework planned for later this year — potentially as early as April — many people who expect to be negatively affected by the proposed changes in the government’s “earned settlement” policy are looking at the possibility of applying for indefinite leave to remain (also known as settlement) early. […]
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Free Movement Blog
14 Jan 2026
Immigration roundup podcast: December 2025
That’s officially a wrap on 2025, as Sonia and Barry run through December’s various happenings, including the final statement of changes for the year and our latest resources on the earned settlement proposals. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act is now in force and the latest tribunal statistics show that the Home Office’s insistence […]
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Free Movement Blog
17 Dec 2025
Migration Advisory Committee publishes review of salary requirements and annual report
The Migration Advisory Committee is clearing its desk ahead of the holiday break, publishing not one but two reports today. The first is the review of the salary requirements for work visas, where the committee has recommended keeping the general threshold at £41,700 and that a single new entrant rate is set at £33,400. The […]
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Free Movement Blog
16 Dec 2025
Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #99
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The best question that someone put to us at last week’s webinar on earned settlement was along the lines of how will the Home Office communicate to people that all of a sudden the rules have been changed on them and they are now on a much longer […]
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UK Home Office
16 Dec 2025
Guidance: Skilled Worker visa: caseworker guidance
Immigration staff guidance on considering applications under the Skilled Worker route.
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Free Movement Blog
12 Dec 2025
Court orders grant of indefinite leave in case with historic conviction
The High Court has ordered the Home Secretary to grant indefinite leave to remain to a man who has held discretionary leave to remain for 15 years, first granted under the pre-July 2012 policy. The Home Secretary had tried to rely on a conviction that pre-dated the first grant of discretionary leave in justifying the […]
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Free Movement Blog
10 Dec 2025
Briefing: the implications of the “earned settlement” proposals and what they might mean in practice
It seems it’s currently the Labour government’s turn to fervently and endlessly push the “fixing immigration once and for all” boulder up the very tall hill of British politics, as it inevitably rolls back down when it encounters reality. We’ve now had a few weeks to digest the “earned settlement” policy document, which outlines the […]
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Free Movement Blog
09 Dec 2025
Immigration roundup podcast: November 2025
What a month. Sonia kicked off the podcast with a run through of the major policy proposals which came out in November, including the changes to refugee settlement periods and a look at the earned settlement proposals (though not in too much detail as she is doing a full webinar with Colin on the topic […]
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Free Movement Blog
02 Dec 2025
Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #97
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Some earned settlement updates from the past week. First of all, the Home Secretary tweeted that the illegal entry penalty will not be applied to people who have been recognised as refugees. Thanks to Jon Featonby for spotting and flagging up that one. I personally feel this information would have […]
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Free Movement Blog
01 Dec 2025
Successful challenge to refusal of indefinite leave to remain in TOEIC case
An applicant has successfully challenged a refusal to grant him indefinite leave to remain on the grounds that he did not meet the continuous residence requirement, after his leave was wrongly cancelled in 2014 when the Home Office alleged that he had obtained an English language test by deception. It is an unreported judicial review […]
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