Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 10 November (HL9699), whether Tier 4 or Tier 5 visas are classified as a route to settlement.

The Tier 4 route was replaced by the Student route on 5 October. Neither the current Student route, nor the previous Tier 4 route acts as a route to settlement. Neither route leads directly to settlement within the UK. Any time spent studying within the UK on the Student route, does not count towards the time required for an applicant to accrue settlement rights.

Our existing Tier 5 visa arrangements offer a variety of routes and cater for those wishing to enter the UK to undertake work on a temporary basis, rather than being a route to settlement.

To be able to settle within the UK, an applicant must be on a route which leads to settlement, such as Tier 2.