UK Settlement Wait to Rise: A Decade for Most Migrants, 15 Years for Some

The UK government is set to sharply increase how long legal migrants must wait for settlement in the country. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will announce sweeping new rules on Monday, with most migrants likely to wait a decade and some up to 15 years.

Under the plans published for consultation, the standard qualifying period for settlement would double from five to 10 years, while workers in occupations below graduate level, including care workers, could face a 15-year qualifying period, subject to proposed exemptions and reductions.

Mahmood has proposed that the settlement wait could be reduced if legal migrants showed they had contributed to their local communities via a "points based system" or if they were earning higher incomes.

The government's response to the consultation on the reforms will be put before MPs on Monday. It is expected to give some exemption to care workers already in the UK, though most other professions will face the lengthy waits for settlement.

Ministers, including the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, had raised concerns about the effect the rules would have on care workers already in the UK, who would be likely to face a 15-year wait for settlement, also known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

The Home Office has granted about 200,000 health and care worker visas in the last five years, with many more people coming as their dependants.

On the eve of the government's response, MPs warned that the migration proposals risked repeating the injustices of the Windrush scandal and worsening staff shortages across health and social care.

In June, Rayner described making care workers already in Britain wait up to 15 years for permanent residence as "un-British". In September, the energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said the plans would have been "tough" for her family, who came to Britain as refugees.

In a letter to Mahmood and the health secretary, Yvette Cooper, parliamentarians and organisations representing migrant workers, racial equality campaigners and health professionals describe the proposals as "an iteration of Windrush era policies".

In their letter, dated 29 October, the signatories urge ministers to "stop history from repeating itself" by abandoning the proposals or, at a minimum, introducing extra safeguards. They argue that changing the rules for people who have planned their lives around existing settlement requirements would be unfair and could encourage essential workers to leave the country.

The Labour MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Diane Abbott, Clive Lewis and Rachael Maskell are among the signatories, alongside the Green MPs Ellie Chowns, Carla Denyer, Siân Berry and Hannah Spencer. Organisations backing the letter include the Work Rights Centre, Action for Race Equality, Care England and the Society of Radiographers.

The signatories warn the health and care sector is already "dangerously under-staffed" and that the proposed changes risk "worsening the health and wellbeing of everyone in the UK". The letter adds: "International workers are essential to maintaining current levels of care. Without them, services will contract, and unmet need will increase."

The Windrush scandal, exposed in 2017, involved mainly Black Britons being wrongly detained, deported and denied access to work and essential services, despite having the right to live in Britain.

Launching the consultation on earned settlement last year, Mahmood described Britain as a "multi-faith, multi-ethnic democracy" that demanded "contribution and integration". She added: "To become a part of this country, permanently, is therefore not a right but a privilege – and one that must be earned."