UK Settlement Grants Hit Highest Level Since 2010 as Nearly 200,000 Migrants Race To Beat Britain's Tightening Residency Rules

The number of migrants granted permanent settlement in the UK has reached its highest level since 2010, Home Office figures show, as almost 200,000 people secured their status in the year to June ahead of planned tightening of residency rules.

Settlement grants, formally known as indefinite leave to remain, rose to 199,628 in the year ending June 2026, up 24 per cent on the previous year.

The rise comes ahead of proposed reforms that would double the qualifying period for settlement from five years to 10, a change announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood but initially put forward by the previous prime minister.

Officials said the increase was driven largely by former work visa holders and a surge in approvals for Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa holders, whose settlement grants rose from 587 to 38,373 over the year.

Settlement Grants at Highest Level in 16 Years

Home Office statisticians also recorded 315,224 citizenship applications over the same period, a record total and a 17 per cent rise on the year before.

Applications from EU nationals climbed by around 40 per cent to more than 81,000, a jump researchers at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford said did not match any equivalent rise in the number of EU citizens newly eligible to apply.

The proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain were first put forward under Burnham's predecessor as prime minister, Keir Starmer, and remain under government consultation.

Andy Burnham, who succeeded Starmer, now faces pressure from within his own party to reconsider whether to press ahead. The plan has divided Labour MPs, some of whom argue it risks leaving long-term residents in prolonged uncertainty.

Burnham also faces pressure from the right, with the Conservatives and Reform UK both suggesting they would strip settlement rights from some people who already hold them.

Who Is Applying, and Why Numbers Are Rising

Indian nationals remained the largest group granted settlement, with 35,384 grants, up 51 per cent, largely reflecting workers who arrived on employment routes some years ago and have now reached the end of their qualifying period.

Grants to Chinese nationals almost quadrupled to 21,300. Grants to people with refugee or protection-based status fell by 40 per cent to 22,799, which the Home Office linked to fewer protection decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Nuni Jorgensen, a researcher at the Migration Observatory, said the pattern pointed to something beyond routine administrative timing.

'The higher number of people applying for citizenship partly reflects rising non-EU migration even before Brexit, as well as a gradual increase in the share of non-EU migrants choosing to become citizens since 2021,' she said.

'Among EU citizens, the increase is particularly sharp and suggests a more sudden change in people's desire to become British.'

She stopped short of drawing a firm line between the policy debate and the applications themselves. 'The data do not tell us why, although it is possible that government and opposition party debates about restricting rights or removing people without citizenship may have played a role.

Research suggests that uncertainty can encourage migrants to secure their status by applying for citizenship,' she said. More than 9,400 Americans applied for British citizenship over the year, though the US remained well behind India, Pakistan, Italy, Nigeria, Romania and Poland in the overall rankings.

Asylum Changes May Shape Future Settlement Numbers

Separately, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels fell by half over the year to 16,021 by the end of June, the lowest total since the Home Office began publishing the figure in 2022. Mahmood said the government was 'restoring control' of the asylum system.

According to the Migration Observatory, the fall was chiefly due to a shrinking initial decision backlog rather than any resolution in the separate appeals system, where a backlog has continued to grow. That distinction may end up mattering more to next year's settlement figures than anything decided in the current consultation.