Overview
- The Home Office data, published Thursday, showed grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain rose about 24% to roughly 199,628 in the year to June 2026, the highest total since 2010.
- Indian nationals received the most ILR grants at 35,384, a 51% increase year‑on‑year, and were also the largest single nationality granted British citizenship with 24,851 naturalisations.
- The statistics show wider shifts in migration routes: Indian visitor visas numbered 514,398 and Indians had the highest number of Graduate route extensions at 64,495 while Indian student visas fell to 82,523.
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has placed proposals before Parliament to lengthen the current five‑year qualifying period and to impose waits of 15 years for low‑paid workers and up to 20 years for those who access taxpayer‑funded benefits; details and parliamentary approval are still pending.
- If enacted, ministers say the changes would reshape settlement and citizenship paths for roughly 1.6 million migrants due to qualify for ILR between 2026 and 2030, and the government has signalled transitional arrangements for near‑qualifying cases.