Published 2026-07-10 · Visa Mortgage Guide

The 10-year ILR rule and your mortgage: what 'earned settlement' means for visa-holder buyers

Quick answer: The government has confirmed it intends to double the standard qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from 5 years to 10, and to apply the change retrospectively to people already on the pathway — with implementation targeted for autumn 2026. For mortgage purposes this matters because most lenders treat you differently until you hold settled status. But the practical damage is smaller than the headlines suggest — because a growing group of lenders no longer waits for your ILR.

Where the policy actually stands (as at 10 July 2026)

• May 2025: the immigration White Paper proposed "earned settlement" — a 10-year standard route, with the ability to earn a shorter wait through contribution (the mechanics of which are still undefined).
• November 2025 – February 2026: public consultation ran and closed with an enormous response.
• February–March 2026: ministers confirmed the change will go ahead, will apply to people already partway through their five years, and is targeted at autumn 2026.
• Today: the government's formal consultation response has not yet been published. Until it is, the fine print — transition arrangements, which visa routes are touched, and what "earning" faster settlement looks like — is genuinely unknown.

We'll update this guide when the response lands. Treat anything more specific than the above, wherever you read it, as speculation.

Why settlement timing shows up in mortgage decisions

Lenders' foreign-national rules broadly bite in two places, and both are about time:

1. Status-based LTV caps. Many lenders lend less of the purchase price until you hold ILR or settled status — our lender criteria tables show each lender's verified "max LTV without ILR", which ranges from 75% to a full 95%.
2. Visa-time-remaining rules. Several lenders want 6–12+ months left on your visa at application. Under a 10-year pathway you'll renew visas more times, and spend more of your life inside those renewal windows where options temporarily narrow.

Double the road to settlement and you double the time spent subject to both. In lender Gen H's May 2026 survey of 295 mortgage brokers, 31% named visa-time-remaining rules as a key barrier for foreign-national cases — before this change has even taken effect.

The part the headlines miss: many lenders stopped waiting for ILR

The last eighteen months have quietly decoupled mortgage access from settlement. Among lenders we've verified:

• Halifax lends up to 95% LTV with no ILR via two routes — five years' UK residency with no income test, or just one year's residency with £50k sole/£75k joint income. Notably, its five-year residency route doesn't care how long the government makes the settlement route.
• Perenna applies no foreign-national LTV restriction at all — 18 months' residency, 12 months left on the visa, £50k main-applicant income.
• Santander now lends to 90% without settled status (income thresholds apply).
• Accord reaches 90% where one applicant earns £50k+.
• A wave of building societies and specialists moved the same way through 2025–26, several to 95%.

In other words: for a well-paid Skilled Worker, the 10-year rule delays a status, but increasingly not a mortgage. The buyers genuinely squeezed are those relying on lenders that still anchor their best terms to ILR — check where your shortlist sits before assuming the worst.

What to do if you're on the pathway now

1. Don't wait for ILR to buy if the numbers work — use our eligibility checker to see how many lenders would consider you at your current status, then compare their verified criteria directly.
2. Watch your visa clock, not just your settlement clock. Renewal windows temporarily narrow your lender pool; if you're 6–12 months from expiry, renewing before applying often unlocks more options.
3. Build the two things every lender rewards: UK credit history and time at a UK address. Those help under every version of the immigration rules.
4. If you're close to five years now, the transition arrangements in the forthcoming consultation response are the thing to watch — nobody can yet say whether people near the old threshold will be protected.

FAQ

Does this affect EU citizens with pre-settled status? The EU Settlement Scheme is separate from the "earned settlement" reforms — and pre-settled holders' route to settled status was actually eased in July 2025 (more absence allowed). The 10-year rule is about the points-based visa routes.

Will lenders change their criteria because of this? None has announced anything yet. If anything, the commercial logic points the other way: a bigger population of long-term visa holders is a bigger market for the lenders that already serve them well.

Does a longer route to ILR affect the mortgage I already have? No. Your existing mortgage doesn't depend on your immigration status timeline; this is about criteria for new borrowing.

Policy position verified against GOV.UK on 10 July 2026; lender criteria verified against lenders' published intermediary criteria on the same date. Both change — check the dates on anything you read, including this. This article is information, not financial or immigration advice; for immigration specifics speak to a regulated immigration adviser.