UK Scraps 15-Year Settlement Wait for Some Foreign Care Workers

The UK government has dropped plans to make certain foreign care workers already living in the country wait up to 15 years before qualifying for permanent residency, following criticism from Labour MPs.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has revised her proposed immigration reforms, allowing care workers who earn at least £25,000 annually and arrived in the UK before May 2025 to retain their existing five-year route to indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

The concession comes after concerns that extending settlement waiting periods for migrants already in the UK would unfairly change the conditions under which they entered the country and worsen staffing shortages in the care sector.

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Mahmood Defends Revised Immigration Policy

Under the revised arrangements, most migrants earning below £50,000 annually will have to complete 10 years in the UK before qualifying for settlement, unless they fall under an exemption.

Mahmood had initially proposed extending the standard qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years, with some categories of migrants facing waits of up to 15 years.

However, the changes attracted opposition from several Labour MPs, who questioned the decision to apply the tougher requirements retrospectively to people already working and living in the UK.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner had also criticised the approach, arguing that changing the rules after migrants had arrived would amount to moving the goalposts.

Addressing Parliament, Mahmood said permanent settlement should be something migrants earn rather than receive automatically.

She maintained that the revised arrangement for care workers was a fair compromise, particularly for those who travelled to the UK to help address staffing shortages following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Care Workers Given Five-Year Settlement Route

Mahmood said foreign care workers earning at least £25,000 annually, in line with the conditions of their visas, would still qualify for settlement after five years.

Those who fail to meet the requirements attached to their visas will be allowed to apply for another five-year visa before seeking settlement.

Speaking to the BBC, the Home Secretary rejected suggestions that she had abandoned her earlier position, pointing out that around 500,000 migrants would still face longer waiting periods.

She said the revised policy would allow care workers to retain their existing route while requiring other categories of migrants to wait longer.

Mahmood declined to disclose the financial implications of the concession but said an assessment would be published in a future announcement.

Conservatives Question Cost of Policy Change

The revised policy has drawn criticism from the Conservative Party, which accused the Home Secretary of making a costly U-turn that could leave taxpayers facing billions of pounds in additional expenses.

When the original proposals were announced in March, the Home Office estimated that the existing settlement rules would cost £4.2 billion over the lifetime of 117,000 foreign care workers expected to qualify between 2026 and 2030.

The projected figure increased to £9.5 billion when adult dependants were included.

Mahmood, however, argued that the revised arrangements would still save billions because migrants in other employment sectors would remain subject to longer settlement periods.

UK Government Raises Concerns Over Migration

The proposed reforms were introduced amid concerns about the number of migrants approaching eligibility for permanent settlement.

Home Office figures indicate that net migration added 2.6 million people to the UK’s population between 2021 and 2024.

The department also projects that between 1.3 million and 2.2 million people could qualify for settlement between 2026 and 2030, with its central estimate standing at 1.9 million.

Indefinite leave to remain allows eligible foreign nationals to live, work and study in the UK without time restrictions. Those granted the status can also access public benefits where they meet the eligibility requirements and apply for British citizenship.