* Taxable income is normally defined as an individual’s gross earnings, minus the tax-free personal allowance of £12,570. 

The following factors will increase the baseline – only the one resulting in the largest increase will be considered:

Impact on dependants

Currently, dependants of work visa-holders can typically apply for ILR with or after the main applicant when they meet the relevant residence requirement for their route. 

The proposed changes anticipate that adult dependants of work visa-holders will have to meet ILR requirements according to their own attributes and circumstances. All dependants, including dependent children, will still only be able to apply for ILR with or after the main applicant.

Transitional provisions

The government proposal is that these provisions will apply to everyone in the UK with immigration permission who does not already have ILR. The government is seeking input on whether there should be transitional provisions for individuals who are already in the UK – we feel very strongly that these changes should only apply to new arrivals here.

Removing recourse to public funds for those with ILR

The consultation also suggests that access to public funds should no longer be allowed to those who are granted ILR and should instead be held back until British citizenship is granted. 

What should you do next?

You could consider taking these actions now to help mitigate the impact:

• Contribute to the consultation response – here is the link for submitting your response. Our firm will be submitting a response and if you would rather give us some feedback to include in that, please let us know. The deadline is 12/02/2026.

• You could coordinate with others in your sector or your community to submit a joint response. The more responses the government receives, the more influence we might all have.

• Apply for ILR as soon as you are eligible under the current rules. Bear in mind that you may become eligible some time before the end of your current visa.

• If you have already lived in the UK lawfully for 10 years on any visa, you may be eligible for ILR on the 10-year Long Residence basis. That route is expected to close around April 2026.

• If considering applying for ILR, book a Life in the UK Test appointment. We understand there is increased demand for test appointments.

• If you have ILR, consider applying for British citizenship as soon as you are eligible. The citizenship rules are likely to make that harder in future. Of course, applying for British citizenship is not for everyone and you will need to look at whether your home countries allow dual citizenship.

• Consider a spousal visa: if you are married to, or an unmarried partner of, a British citizen and will be affected by the changes, you may want to consider switching to a spousal visa. The plans suggest that those on spousal visas with a British partner, will remain on a 5-year path to ILR. Switching to the spousal visa will however reset your track to ILR and may not be necessary if the government does implement transitional provisions for individuals who are currently in the UK.

Longer term considerations

Consider community service/volunteering as that may be rewarded with a reduction in the required ILR period.

Work on your English language competence: aim for level C1 to potentially earn a 1-year reduction.

• Be aware that claiming benefits (public funds), having tax irregularities or a criminal record may significantly increase your ILR timeframe or even stop it entirely.

How Can We Help You?

If you have any immediate concerns, please get in touch and we will be happy to help.

We are happy to assist our clients with responses to the consultation or advice on specific employees or their families. We will be holding a series of webinars on these planned changes over the coming weeks and months and will be in touch with details shortly.

Poll: Support You Through the ILR Updates

These changes could affect you, as a sponsor licence holder or a business currently in the process of obtaining a sponsor licence, and your current or future sponsored workers.

We have set out a summary of the most relevant changes here. If you’d like more detail or to discuss the implications of any of this, please get in touch with us.

Immigration Skills Charge: 32% increase takes effect from 16 December 2025

The Immigration Skills Charge you pay when you assign a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) to most Skilled Workers, is increasing by a massive 32% from 16 December 2025. This means the small company fee will increase from £364 to £480 and the large company fee from £1,000 to £1,320, both charged per year of sponsorship.

What should you do?

• If you are planning to sponsor any new employees or even extend the visas of current sponsored workers, you might save money by bringing forward their sponsorship to pre-16 December 2025. We can work out precisely what difference it will make for you, so please contact us and we will calculate the figure.
• Have a look at which of your sponsored workers are likely to need visa extensions in 2026 and see if bringing forward their application is feasible. This is one to check up on sooner rather than later as the holidays approach.
• As a first step, you might need to request an increased CoS allocation – we are expecting a sudden spike in demand for UKVI’s priority service for CoS requests, so please allow plenty of time!

Increased English language requirement for Skilled Workers to B2, from 8 January 2026

The level of English language competence for those applying for a Skilled Worker visa is set to increase from B1 to B2 with effect from 8 January 2026. The new level won’t apply to those who already have Skilled Worker visas, only to people applying for their first Skilled Worker visa.

If you are planning to sponsor anyone in Q1 of 2026 who might struggle to reach this higher standard, you could consider bringing forward their visa application to before 8 January 2026.

Graduate visa length to be reduced to 18 months from 1 January 2027

Students who apply for the Graduate visa from 1 January 2027 will normally only be given permission that lasts for 18 months, rather than the current 2 years.

If you are recruiting graduates from UK universities, you might like to suggest to them that they apply before the end of 2026 if they are eligible.

Proposed ILR timeframe increase from 5 to 10 years

The changes above don’t relate to the anticipated increase to the timeframe needed to qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) from 5 to 10 years. This change is expected to follow soon though, once the Government has carried out the public inquiry, ‘Routes to Settlement’. This inquiry is now open to submission of evidence until 2 December 2025. If you would like to submit evidence, you can find more information on this page.

The best advice is that anyone who is eligible now, should go ahead and apply as soon as they can.

Prior to Brexit, aspiring golfers from the EU had free movement rights. This allowed them to train at UK golf academies, compete in junior and amateur tournaments and secure sponsorship and build careers on the UK golfing circuit without visa complications.

Now, a junior amateur from Spain or Sweden must try and navigate a UK immigration system which caters for elite but not emerging sporting talent.

The majority of young international golfers looking to train or compete in the UK currently fall between these two visa options:

⛳ Sportsperson Visa: Designed for elite, established professionals with endorsements from governing bodies like the R&A or PGA. This excludes junior or developing players.

👩🎓 Student Visa: Requires enrolment at a licensed educational institution. Golf academies and independent training centres often don’t qualify unless linked to a college or university.

We have so many amazing courses and opportunities for golfing talent to develop in the UK, but our immigration system doesn’t currently allow young overseas athletes to live, train, and compete here under appropriate supervision and without needing to win a major competition first.

The UK’s Global Talent immigration category gives applicants with exceptional promise in science, engineering, humanities, social science, medicine, digital technology or arts and culture the chance to live and work in the UK – why couldn’t we have a category which allows talented young sportspeople from overseas to do the same?

That would give the next generation of golfing talent a far better chance of making the first tee at Bethpage Black with a Team Europe crest on!