The number of migrants granted the right to live permanently in the United Kingdom has reached a 16-year high in the past year, as foreign nationals sought to secure their status ahead of upcoming government reforms. According to official figures, 199,628 individuals were granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the 12 months to June, marking a 24% increase compared to the previous year and the highest total since 2010.

Applications for British citizenship also hit a record level, with 315,224 submitted during the same period. Of these, 245,520 were approved, representing a slight decline of 4% from the prior year but remaining at historically elevated levels. Migrants are eligible to apply for citizenship one year after receiving settled status.

Experts attribute the surge in ILR grants to a combination of factors. One key driver is the large influx of migrant workers who arrived following the implementation of Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit immigration reforms in January 2021. These reforms contributed to net migration peaking at 944,000 in the year ending March 2023. Additionally, nearly 175,000 people from Hong Kong have moved to the UK under a visa scheme introduced in 2021 after the imposition of a national security law by China.

Nuni Jorgensen of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford noted that rising non-EU migration prior to Brexit, alongside an increasing proportion of non-EU migrants choosing to obtain British citizenship since 2021, has also influenced recent trends. She highlighted a particularly sharp increase in citizenship applications among EU nationals, suggesting a more immediate change in intentions within that group.

The UK government plans significant changes to the immigration system from this autumn under proposals by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. The time required to qualify for permanent settlement will increase from five to ten years for most migrants, with lower-paid workers potentially facing a 15-year wait and refugees at least 20 years. However, a new “earned settlement” model may allow high-earning and public sector migrants to qualify within three years. Volunteering contributions could also shorten the qualifying period. Conversely, those claiming benefits or with criminal convictions may experience longer waiting times. A consultation on these reforms proposes that migrants be barred from claiming benefits until they have secured citizenship, which can only be applied for one year after gaining ILR.

The government has yet to finalize rules affecting an estimated 1.6 million migrants expected to qualify for ILR between 2026 and 2030. More than 100 Labour MPs have called for the scrapping of the proposed retrospective application of the new rules. The Conservatives and Reform UK have advocated for stricter measures, with the latter party proposing to eliminate ILR altogether.

Separately, figures published alongside the migration statistics showed a continued reduction in the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels, which halved over the past year to 16,021 as of June. However, the number of individuals living in dispersal accommodation—such as shared houses—rose by nearly 3,000 to 69,038 during the same period. Overall, the total number of people in taxpayer-funded accommodation fell by a quarter to 93,293.

Home Secretary Mahmood emphasized progress, stating that asylum backlogs have decreased, illegal working arrests have reached record levels, and deportations and returns have increased. In response, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp criticized the Labour government for shifting asylum seekers from hotels into local communities through dispersal schemes, pointing to a 12% rise in those housed in shared accommodation.