Statement of changes: HC 836 sees changes to permitted absences for EU Settlement Scheme

A new statement of changes to the immigration rules (HC: 836) has been published today and before your adrenaline gets going I can tell you that unlike some of the more recent ones, there are no immediate changes being made. As ever, the explanatory memorandum is a useful read but I have gone through the main changes below.

Changes effective from 16 July 2025

EU Settlement Scheme

The definition of “continuous qualifying period” in Annex 1 of Appendix EU is being amended to change the position on permitted absences. The explanatory memorandum states:

5.15 However, stakeholders have highlighted some confusion on the part of pre-settled status holders regarding permitted absences from the UK, which may have led some to inadvertently break their continuous residence in the UK (and thereby cease to be eligible for settled status) by exceeding the permitted absence(s) from the UK. To simplify the assessment of continuous residence, these changes enable a pre-settled status holder to be granted settled status where they have been resident in the UK for at least 30 months in total in the most recent 60-month period. This can be any 30 months within that 60-month period.

This looks like a sensible and positive change and will also be used by the Home Office when automatically upgrading people’s status from pre-settled to settled.

Restricted leave

As previously trailed by the government, the use of the restricted leave policy is to be extended so that it is the only form of leave available to those excluded from refugee status under paragraph 339AA of the immigration rules on the basis of Article 1F of the 1951 Refugee Convention (exclusion from Refugee Convention), 339AC (danger to the UK), 339D (exclusion from a grant of humanitarian protection) or 339GB (revocation of humanitarian protection on grounds of exclusion). This change is to be achieved through changes to part 9 of the immigration rules prohibiting leave from being granted on any other grounds.

Changes effective from 17 July 2025

Changes are being made to Appendix International Armed Forces and International Civilian Employees. The explanatory memorandum states that the changes are being made “to give effect to a request from the Ministry of Defence to enable a group of approximately 50 US Department of Energy federal employees and civilian sub-contractors to come to the UK to work on US military equipment”. Transitional provisions are in place meaning that applications made before 17 July 2025 will be considered under the rules as at 16 July.

Changes effective from 29 July 2025

Appendix Private Life

The settlement section of Appendix Private Life is being amended to extend settlement to those over 18 who meet or met the “half-life test” (have spent at least half their life in the UK) and were granted leave under Appendix FM or outside the rules before 20 June 2022. The explanatory memorandum says that this change is to align with the concession introduced in October 2021 which was only partially incorporated into the statement of changes introducing Appendix Private Life in Spring 2022.

Settlement after five years is also to be extended to include to children who have or last had leave as a dependent child under Appendix FM or outside the rules before 20 June 2022 and would have met the continuous residence requirement at paragraph PL 3.1(a) at the time the leave was granted. The explanatory memorandum states:

5.9 Changes are also being made to allow children who have lived in the UK for seven years to qualify for settlement after five years. This cohort were not part of the concession, but a seven-year qualifying child who applied as part of a family group would always have been granted under the family rules and cannot currently qualify under the private life rules for settlement after five years. Irrespective of whether granted under the family or private life rules, the rationale for introducing a shorter five-year route to settlement for children applies to this cohort. To prevent this group accessing the five-year route is not in the spirit of the private life rules, and disadvantages children in comparison to young adults. 

Also taking effect on 29 July but with transitional provisions meaning that applications made before that date will be considered under the rules in force at 28 July is the replacement of paragraph PL 15.1 and adding a new, much longer paragraph PL 15A titled “Continuous residence requirements for a child born in the UK applying for settlement on the Private Life route”. The explanatory memorandum states that this is “to align the continuous residence requirements for children born in the UK who are applying for settlement, with those for children who were not born in the UK applying for permission to stay”.

Appendix Continuous Residence

Also taking effect on 29 July with transitional provisions in place are changes to Appendix Continuous Residence. The entire Appendix has been substantially redrafted, although according to the explanatory memorandum the only substantive change appears to be that time spent in the Crown Dependencies (the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey), on a route equivalent to those in the UK, will count as lawful presence in the UK in future.

Appendix Long Residence

Changes are being made to Appendix Long Residence to say that where a person has been deprived of British citizenship, the time they spent in the UK with that citizenship does not count as lawful residence and so cannot be used towards a long residence application.

Other changes are being made to correct minor drafting errors.