Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has withdrawn plans that would have required some migrant care workers already in the UK to wait 15 years before qualifying for permanent settlement.
Under the revised proposals, care workers earning at least £25,000 a year who arrived before May 2025 will continue to qualify for indefinite leave to remain after five years. Workers who did not meet the conditions of their visas will be offered another five-year visa and the opportunity to seek settlement after that period.
Mahmood had originally proposed extending the standard settlement period from five to 10 years for most migrants, with some facing a 15-year wait. The updated rules will place people earning less than £50,000 a year on a 10-year route unless they qualify for an exemption. The government says the changes will affect 517,000 people, down from the 799,000 covered by the original plans.
Settlement, formally known as indefinite leave to remain, allows people to live, work and study in the UK without a time limit. It can also provide access to benefits where eligibility requirements are met and allow an application for British citizenship.
Addressing the House of Commons, Mahmood said settlement should be “earned” rather than automatic. She said the five-year route would remain for care workers who earn at least £25,000 in social care, describing them as people who had answered the country’s call after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Other groups will also retain existing routes, including Hong Kong British nationals overseas, members of the armed forces, people with a British connection and those covered by legacy schemes such as Windrush. Higher earners on more than £50,000, as well as doctors, teachers and others who have contributed in healthcare and education, will be able to qualify after five years. People earning more than £125,000 will be eligible after three years.
The revised plans maintain much longer waits for some refugees who entered the UK by small boat or another irregular route. Those who work or study could face a 20-year wait for settlement, while those who do neither could face 30 years.
The Home Office says net migration added 2.6 million people to the UK population between 2021 and 2024. It estimates that between 1.3 million and 2.2 million people will settle in the country between 2026 and 2030, with a central estimate of 1.9 million.
The proposal to apply the changes to people already in the UK prompted criticism from Labour MPs. Housing Secretary Angela Rayner previously said the approach would “change the goalposts”, while other Labour members described it as unfair and warned it could worsen skills shortages in the care sector.
Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp called the revision a government “U-turn” and said it could cost taxpayers billions. He cited Home Office calculations suggesting that 196,000 care workers and their adult dependants could settle between 2026 and 2030, at an estimated lifetime cost of £9.5bn.
The Refugee Council criticised the proposed 20- and 30-year routes for refugees, calling them unfair and unworkable. Its representative Imran Hussain said the measures would create long-term insecurity and additional administrative pressure for the Home Office.
Labour MP Diane Abbott welcomed the exemption for care workers but said the retrospective changes affecting other workers remained unfair. Mahmood rejected that description, arguing that governments must be able to adapt immigration rules to changing circumstances.
The Liberal Democrats, Reform UK and the Green Party also criticised the proposals. The Institute for Public Policy Research, meanwhile, said skilled workers and their dependants expected to settle under current rules could make a net lifetime contribution of about £115bn through taxation.
Sources: BBC News UK.