A migrant care worker who provides essential support to the UK's elderly and vulnerable has issued a powerful plea against new migration laws, stating that workers like her seek stability, not special treatment.
The Human Cost of Care
Writing for The Mirror, care worker Riffat Fahad described the profound emotional and physical labour involved in her profession. She detailed how she cares for the nation's parents and grandparents, offering comfort through the night, helping them regain their mobility, and restoring their sense of dignity. 'Sometimes, I am the first person to make them smile in weeks,' she wrote, emphasising that her work is a core part of her identity, not just a job description.
Fahad came to the UK as an asylum seeker, finding purpose and respect through her work in the care sector. She pays taxes and works long, exhausting shifts, earning everything she has through dedication and effort.
A System Propped Up by Migrant Labour
Fahad directly challenges the narrative that migrant workers are a 'burden' on the UK. She argues that they are, in fact, the backbone of a fragile system. 'Care homes stay open because of us. Hospitals keep moving because of us. Families hold together because of us,' she states. She warns that if migrant carers were to disappear overnight, the social care infrastructure would suffer a severe shock, impacting millions of lives.
The central point of contention is a proposed change to migration rules that would force care workers like her to wait 15 years before being eligible to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
Fifteen Years of Uncertainty
This proposed 15-year pathway to settlement has caused Fahad deep personal pain. She questions how she can be asked to give fifteen years of her strength, youth, and loyalty to a country that would still consider her a temporary guest. 'We are not here to take. We are here to give,' she asserts, explaining that all she and her colleagues ask for is fairness, humanity, and the chance to build a future without decades of uncertainty.
Her final, heartfelt message to the UK is a hope that the country she cares for will, one day, offer care and respect in return to the migrant workers who support its most vulnerable citizens.
