UK to make many legal migrants wait 10 to 15 years for settlement
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce on Monday new rules that would double the standard wait for permanent residence from five to 10 years for most legal migrants. The plan has drawn criticism from ministers, MPs and health and migrant organisations.
Shabana Mahmood, the UK home secretary, will on Monday, 2 November, set out sweeping changes to how long legal migrants must wait before gaining the right to settle permanently, known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Most are likely to wait ten years, and some as long as 15. The government's response to its public consultation will be put before MPs.
What the proposals involve
Under the plans published for consultation, the standard qualifying period for settlement would double from five to 10 years. Some workers in occupations below graduate level, including care workers, could face 15 years, subject to proposed exemptions and reductions.
Mahmood has suggested the wait could be shortened for migrants who show, through a points-based system, that they have contributed to their local communities, or who earn higher incomes. Care workers already in the UK are expected to receive some exemption, while most other professions will face the longer waits. The home secretary is also due to meet union general secretaries on Monday, some of whom have raised alarm, to finalise details.
Objections
Ministers, including housing secretary Angela Rayner, had raised concerns about the impact on care workers. In June Rayner called a 15-year wait for those already in Britain "un-British". In September, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the plans would have been "tough" for her family, who arrived as refugees. The Home Office has granted about 200,000 health and care worker visas over the past five years.
In a letter dated 29 October, parliamentarians and organisations representing migrant workers, racial equality campaigners and health professionals compare the proposals to "Windrush era policies" and urge ministers to abandon them or at least add safeguards. The Windrush scandal, exposed in 2017, involved mainly Black Britons being wrongly detained, deported and denied work and essential services despite having the right to live in Britain.
The signatories argue that changing rules for people who planned their lives around existing requirements would be unfair and could push essential workers to leave. They also warn the health and care sector is already understaffed.
