Highlights
- Most workers will wait 10 years for ILR, up from five
- Changes apply to people already in the UK; those with settled status are unaffected
- Care workers earning £25,000+ who met visa conditions keep the five-year route
- Doctors, nurses, teachers and those earning £50,271+ also stay at five years
- Earners above £125,000 can settle in three years
MOST foreign workers already in Britain will have to wait twice as long to settle permanently, after home secretary Shabana Mahmood confirmed a major overhaul of settlement rules.
The qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) will double from five years to 10 for most workers, the government announced on Monday (2). ILR allows people to live, work and study in the UK without restrictions, and is a key step towards British citizenship.
Crucially, the changes will apply to people already living in the UK, not only to new arrivals. They will not affect anyone who already holds settled status.
But in a significant concession to critics within Labour, Mahmood watered down plans for care workers, who had faced waits of up to 15 years under her original proposals.
"Those who contribute most will settle fastest," Mahmood said. "Those who don't play by the rules will be refused or wait longer."
Responding to the announcement, Sunder Katwala, director of British Future thinktank, said, “There may be no flagship government policy that has changed quite so much as this one as a result of public consultation. Those changes mean many thousands of people, anxious about losing legal status, will now have a pathway to settle in Britain.
“Behind this complex policy debate is a political argument about whether people who have come to Britain should be allowed to stay and settle or not. The government has sided with the argument for settlement and integration. It will now need to make the case more publicly against opponents who are still voicing a politics of ‘send them all back’.”
Who can still settle after five years?
Under the revised plans, care workers will only have to wait five years if they have met their visa conditions and earn at least £25,000 a year.
Mahmood told parliament the new rules would provide a settlement path for care workers "who worked hard and answered our call when we needed them".
Public service workers, including doctors, nurses and teachers, will remain eligible after five years. Those earning at least £50,271 will also qualify after five years, while those earning more than £125,000 can apply after just three.
Refugees who came through approved schemes, such as those for Ukrainians and Hong Kong citizens, will be able to apply after five years.
Who will wait longer?
Most other workers will now wait 10 years. Anyone arriving through regular routes who has claimed certain benefits or breached their visa conditions will face a 20-year wait.
Refugees who arrived illegally, such as by small boat across the English Channel, will also wait 20 years, rising to 30 if they have not entered work or study.
Mahmood said half a million people would "settle later" than five years, and that the reforms would "save billions" in benefits. The government estimates that 1.9 million people will receive settled status between 2026 and 2030.
Why it matters for British Asian families
Many of those affected arrived in the early 2020s on health and social care visas, recruited to fill gaps left by workers who departed after Brexit and as the country dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic.
For families who planned their lives around a five-year route, the retrospective change could mean years of extra uncertainty.
The reforms carry a personal dimension for Mahmood, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants. She has long argued that Britain must control immigration to protect communities like her own against the rise of right-wing populism.
The changes follow pressure from Nigel Farage's Reform UK, which has surged in popularity with calls for stricter migration controls. Prime minister Andy Burnham's government is trying to balance voter demand for lower immigration with its goal of boosting economic growth.
Labour backlash
The original proposals sparked anger among unions and senior Labour figures. Earlier this year, housing secretary Angela Rayner described applying the rules retrospectively as "un-British". Last month, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the plans would have been tough for her family, who came to Britain as refugees.
The government received more than 200,000 responses during a 12-week consultation on the plans.
Some businesses have warned that tougher rules risk worsening worker shortages, particularly in the care sector, which has long struggled to fill vacancies.
(with inputs from agencies)
