Migrants face longer waits for settlement under UK plans
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce new rules on Monday that would lengthen the time many legal migrants must wait before they can apply for permanent settlement in the UK. The Guardian reported that the changes would affect many overseas workers.
Settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, is the status that lets a migrant live in the UK permanently without time limits. Under the plans published for consultation, the standard qualifying period would double from five years to 10 years. A consultation is a formal process in which the government asks the public for views before it decides on a policy.
The Guardian reported that under the planned reforms, most legal migrants would wait 10 years, while some would wait up to 15. Workers in below-graduate-level occupations, a category that includes care workers, could face a 15-year qualifying period, subject to proposed exemptions and reductions. Mahmood has proposed that the wait could be shortened for migrants who show community contribution through a points-based system, or who earn higher incomes.
The government's response to the consultation is to be put before MPs on Monday. It is expected to give some exemption to care workers already in the UK. The Home Office granted about 200,000 health and care worker visas over the last five years.
The plans have drawn criticism from several directions. A letter dated 29 October, addressed to Mahmood and health secretary Yvette Cooper, warned that the proposals risked repeating the Windrush injustices. Its signatories included Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis, and Green MPs Carla Denyer and Siân Berry.
Cabinet colleagues have also weighed in. Housing secretary Angela Rayner described making care workers already in Britain wait up to 15 years for permanent residence as "un-British", in June. In September, energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said the settlement plans would have been "tough" for her family, who came to Britain as refugees.
Outside government, MPs said the new settlement rules risk staff shortages in health and social care. Workers' rights campaigners described extending the timeframe for UK care workers to 15 years as "cruel and unconscionable". Migrant care workers have called on Mahmood to scrap the proposed changes to settlement rules.
