Which visa time counts towards settlement
Updated 2 November 2026
Time in the UK is no longer enough on its own. Residence is linked to the purpose of your route: time on a route that leads to settlement counts, time on a temporary route does not.
Routes that count
- Longer-term work, talent and family routes ("core permission"): Skilled Worker, UK Ancestry, Global Talent, Scale-up, Innovator Founder, International Sportsperson, Family Partner, Minister of Religion and Stateless Person
- Specified talent and innovation routes (the "high talent group")
- Family and Private Life
- Core Protection, and Core Protection Work and Study
- Safe and Legal routes
Not every counting route qualifies for every pathway. Family and Private Life permission, for example, does not qualify for the 3- or 5-year pathways, but can qualify through the 10- or 20-year pathway.
Routes that do not count
- Visit, Student, Graduate and High Potential Individual
- Global Business Mobility, Temporary Worker routes, Youth Mobility, Seasonal Worker, Overseas Domestic Worker
- Ukraine Scheme routes
- Leave Outside the Rules (the government says it will set out its approach in due course)
The Long Residence route closes
Under the current rules, 10 years of continuous lawful residence, including time on temporary routes, can lead to settlement. That route closes under Earned Settlement, so time on Student or Graduate visas will no longer build towards settlement simply because you reach 10 years.
Combining routes
Time on protection or human-rights routes cannot be combined with time on work or family routes. If you move between them, the qualifying period for the new pathway starts when you move onto it. For example, someone who comes on a work visa and later claims asylum cannot count their work-route time towards the protection pathway.
Source: A Fairer Pathway to Settlement: Government Response to the Consultation (CP 1707), November 2026, chapter 4.
General information only. This is not immigration advice and is not affiliated with the Home Office or GOV.UK. Rules may change and guidance is still to come. For advice on your own case, speak to an OISC-regulated adviser or a solicitor.
More guides
- Earned settlement explained: the UK's new settlement rulesThe 3, 5, 10 and 20-year pathways and the mandatory requirements
- Earnings thresholds and the "best years" ruleThresholds, best years, household income and exemptions
- Care workers and the transitional arrangementsThe one-off 5-year route, second chance and sponsor protections
- Public service occupations that qualify for 5-year settlementThe Annex C list of eligible health and education occupations