Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has softened proposed UK immigration rules after opposition from cabinet ministers, Labour MPs, trade unions and care providers. Under the revised plans, eligible care workers earning more than £25,000 will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years, rather than facing the 15-year wait outlined in earlier proposals.
The Home Office estimates that the five-year route could cover about 146,000 care workers and 136,000 dependants. The change follows pressure from health unions and senior Labour figures, including Angela Rayner and London mayor Sadiq Khan, who had criticised the impact of the proposed rules on the care sector.
Workers in occupations below degree level will no longer automatically face the proposed 15-year pathway. Instead, they will generally qualify through a 10-year route if they meet strengthened requirements, with opportunities to qualify sooner through an accelerated pathway based on their contribution.
Officials said around 100,000 skilled workers, including butchers and chefs, could face a 10-year wait. Higher earners will have shorter routes: people earning more than £125,000 could qualify after three years, while those earning more than £50,271 and certain public service workers, including doctors, nurses and teachers, could qualify after five years.
The revised proposals retain particularly strict conditions for people who breach immigration rules or seek asylum after entering the UK irregularly. Those arriving by small boat and relying on public funds could face a wait of at least 30 years for settlement. Refugees arriving through designated safe and legal routes would be treated differently, while some people who enter legally could reduce a potential 20-year wait by moving into sustained work or study and meeting contribution requirements.
The earlier proposals would have doubled the standard settlement period from five to 10 years and placed many care workers and their dependants on a 15-year route. Home Office projections had estimated that granting permanent residence to care-sector staff and adult family members arriving between 2026 and 2030 could cost the public purse about £10bn over their lifetimes.
The debate has intensified as migrants who arrived during Boris Johnson’s government begin reaching the existing five-year threshold. An analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research said skilled migrants and their adult dependants expected to settle under current rules could make a net lifetime contribution of about £115bn through taxation.
Mahmood met union leaders on Monday to discuss the final details of the changes. The Home Office has issued about 200,000 health and care worker visas over the past five years, in addition to visas granted to many dependants.
Sources: The Guardian Politics.