Earned Settlement will punish migrant women for the abuse they experienced

Following the government’s announcements on its Earned Settlement model on 2nd November 2026, Hibiscus, the Latin American Women’s Rights Service, Southall Black Sisters and the End Violence Against Women Coalition have called on the government to withdraw the reforms entirely due to the harm they will cause to migrant victim-survivors of violence against women and girls.

These plans will directly penalise and harm migrant victim-survivors of VAWG for the abuse and exploitation they have experienced. At the very least, exemptions must be introduced and existing protections extended to all victim-survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG) regardless of their immigration status.

Alongside extending the period to qualify for settlement from five years to ten years or more (in some cases even to 30 years), the government has announced stringent eligibility requirements including higher English language requirements, ongoing National Insurance contributions and the absence of any criminal record and government debt.

These requirements fail to recognise how domestic abuse, trafficking and exploitation directly shape women’s financial circumstances, immigration status, employment histories and contact with the criminal justice system. The changes will instead increase long-term abuse, exploitation, poverty, destitution and criminalisation, while further restricting access to safety and justice.

On Monday, the Home Secretary said that workers should not be punished for the sins of their employer. Nevertheless, she has presented a model that will force victim-survivors to pay for the actions of their abusers, in some cases, for decades.

Penalising victim-survivors for experiencing abuse

Perpetrators routinely use control over immigration status, money and movement to trap victim-survivors. Under the announced Earned Settlement changes:

• Women who have been isolated or experienced coercive control and financial abuse will struggle to meet the settlement requirements, such as 3 years of national insurance contributions, no debt at the time of application, and fluency of English
• Women who have been criminalised as a direct consequence of domestic abuse, trafficking or exploitation will be barred from settlement and face deportation. Many women are coerced into criminal activity by perpetrators or become involved in offending as a means of survival.
• Women who are ineligible for limited avenues for protection, have periods of irregular status, and who need to access benefits in order to flee abuse will be penalised by extending their settlement period.

Deeper poverty, greater risks

Longer routes to settlement will increase women’s risk of abuse or force them to stay in abusive relationships. The government’s proposal to delay settlement for those relying on welfare benefits will create further barriers for victim-survivors who require financial assistance to escape abuse. It will deepen poverty and destitution for them and their children, and increase their vulnerability to abuse and exploitation.

A requirement to have no debt will create new barriers for women whose debt arises from financial abuse, financial control, medical care for abuse/violence-related injury or unpaid surcharges controlled by perpetrators.

A threat to specialist by and for organisations

Longer routes to settlement will increase demand on specialist services that are already underfunded and overstretched. At the same time, the changes to the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold pose an existential threat to these organisations, putting at risk their ability to recruit and train staff with lived experience or those with relevant skills from overseas.

Changes that go against government pledges

These proposals cut directly against the government’s own commitments. The Child Poverty Strategy pledges to lift half a million children out of poverty, yet children born to migrant parents are twice as likely to experience poverty and make up a third of the children in deep poverty. The Homelessness Strategy commits to end rough sleeping and making homelessness rare, but these changes fail to consider that a quarter of people owed a homelessness prevention or relief duty were born outside the UK or EU, and migrant destitution has risen by 136% since 2019. The VAWG Strategy pledged to halve VAWG within a decade, yet immigration changes omit that women with NRPF are three times more likely to experience VAWG.

What we are calling for

We urge the government to introduce measures to mitigate the harmful consequences of the Earned Settlement reforms on victim-survivors of VAWG:

In a joint statement, the organisations said:

“The Earned Settlement reforms announced this week will be devastating to victim-survivors of violence against women and girls. As organisations working on the frontline to support migrant women, we know extended periods without settlement increase women’s risk of experiencing and remaining trapped in abuse. These arbitrary and punitive reforms will leave the women we support vulnerable and enable abusers to keep weaponising their insecure immigration status.

Although the government has confirmed that existing exemptions for domestic abuse victim-survivors will remain, we know these will cover only a limited number of women, excluding some of the most vulnerable, including asylum-seeking and refugee women. The government must withdraw these reforms immediately, and if it refuses, it must exempt every victim-survivor of VAWG regardless of their immigration status.

We are particularly concerned about the increased criminality requirement, which would exclude many women from being able to settle in the UK. This reform ignored the extensive evidence showing how abusers exploit the criminal justice system to criminalise women.

We are convinced that these reforms are a contradiction to the government’s ambition to halve violence against women and girls in the next decade.”

Notes on the government’s Earned Settlement plans

Note 1: We argue that the domestic abuse exemptions mentioned during the announcement fall short because they only apply to a limited cohort of migrant victim-survivors. The Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC) provides a temporary 3-month grant of leave to remain and access to public funds, for certain migrant victims and survivors of domestic violence. The MVDAC is only available to survivors whose immigration status depends on a partner/spouse who: is a British citizen; has settled status or Indefinite Leave to Remain; has a work or study visa; has refugee status; is a current or former member of the armed forces. On the other hand, Appendix victim of domestic abuse (Appendix VDA) is a permanent settlement status, only available for migrant victims and survivors of domestic abuse whose spouse, civil or durable partner is a British citizen, a refugee, has settled status, or is a current or former member of the armed forces. Appendix VDA replaces any previous immigration status. Examples of victims and survivors who are ineligible for the MVDAC or Appendix VDA include those who are undocumented or hold visitor visas; those with valid fiance, student, graduate or skilled worker visas; and victims experiencing domestic violence from non-partner family members (such as parents or children).

Note 2: Our recommendations

1. ILR Qualifying Conditions
   • Remove access to public funds, as a factor to increase ILR qualifying periods, in cases of VAWG.
   • Introduce exemptions for victim-survivors of VAWG, modern slavery and human trafficking, in relation to the no criminal record requirement.
   • Introduce exemptions for debt accrued as a result of abuse.
   • Reduce visa fees to only operational costs and eliminate the NHS surcharge, for victims of all forms of VAWG.
2. Prevent Deportations of Victim-Survivors
   • Prevent automatic deportations of victim-survivors with criminal records by introducing exceptions for those whose offending is the result of VAWG, including modern slavery and human trafficking.
3. Specialist Frontline Services
   • Introduce an exemption from salary thresholds for staff employed at by and for Black and minoritised migrant women specialist organisations.
   • Meaningfully consult by and for services on implementation.
4. Safety Net for Victim-Survivors
   • Keep existing protections for victim-survivors of VAWG, including modern slavery and trafficking. Extend the MVDAC and DVILR to all victim-survivors, regardless of visa type and immigration status.
   • Introduce a statutory firewall for migrant women experiencing VAWG, modern slavery and trafficking, to increase their ability to report crimes and access support, and decrease the weaponisation of women’s immigration status by perpetrators.
   • Expand access to legal advice for victim-survivors by restoring immigration to civil legal aid and removing means-testing for survivors of domestic abuse and modern slavery.