Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed retrospective changes to settlement requirements for European Communities Association Agreement visa holders on levels of migration for each of the next five years.

The earned settlement model, proposed in ’A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was subject to a 12 week public consultation, which closed on 12 February 2026.

The consultation sought views on whether there should be transitional arrangements for those already on a pathway to settlement, such as those currently on European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) visas. In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the ECAA route will continue to apply. We will continue to meet our international obligations.

Details of the earned settlement model will now be finalised following the consultation and will be subject to economic and equality impact assessments, which we have committed to publish in due course.