Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has dramatically watered down her migrant settlement crackdown following a furious backlash from the Labour Left. Care workers will now be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years – ten years before Ms Mahmood’s original proposals – if they have earned £25,000-per-year in the sector.
Those who miss out on the scheme will “be offered a second chance to contribute through a new five-year visa”. Around 300,000 people are expected to benefit from the U-turn, it is understood. Some 1.9 million foreign nationals are set to be granted indefinite leave to remain by 2030.
Key Changes to Settlement Rules
In a second major climbdown, the Home Office confirmed it is letting lower-skilled, lower-paid migrant workers apply for settlement rights after 10 years, rather than the 15 years Labour originally proposed. Refugees who arrived on a “safe and legal route” will be put on the same settlement path as migrants earning more than £50,000, under revised Home Office plans. Small boat migrants face a 30-year wait, unless they study or work and it then falls to 20 years.
Migrants will only be given settlement rights if they have a “spotless criminal record”, speak English to the equivalent of A-level standard, have no debt owed to the taxpayer and a “record of sustained National Insurance contributions”. Any criminality will lead to automatic refusal, sources say.
Government Defends Revised Framework
A document revealed: “The Government has listened carefully to concerns about how the earned settlement reforms should apply to people already living in the UK and has refined the reforms in response.
“The final framework is simpler than the model originally consulted on, provides strong protections for vulnerable groups, places greater emphasis on family unit and recognises a wider range of contributions to the UK.
“Workers in occupations below RQF 6 will no longer face the 15-year pathway proposed in the consultation.
“They will instead qualify through the 10-year pathway where they meet the strengthened minimum requirements, with opportunities to qualify sooner where they demonstrate the contribution required for an accelerated pathway.”
In November 2025, the Home Office said those in a role below graduate level should have to wait 15 years. But the Home Office has abolished this gateway, making 10 years the “starting point for anyone playing by the rules and making a contribution to the UK”. Those who do not meet settlement rights requirements face a 20-year wait.
Impact on Workers and Refugees
The Home Office estimates 86,000 foreign nationals on skilled worker visas, as well as 52,000 dependants, will qualify for indefinite leave to remain within five years. Officials said 136,000 health workers and 170,000 dependants could qualify for indefinite leave within five years. And 196,000 care workers and 186,000 dependants could qualify for the reduced rate, compared to Ms Mahmood’s original proposals, if they meet the new requirements.
Some 146,000 skilled workers and 85,000 dependants will qualify within 10 years. Another 133,000 refugees are set to be given settlement rights over the next four years. The 223,000 people on a Family Visa will be able to qualify after five years if they were sponsored by a British citizen. Those who were not face a “longer pathway to settlement”.
Under Labour’s original plans, foreign nationals would typically have to wait 10 years, but the lowest paid workers would have to wait 15. Ms Mahmood’s critics warned this would hit care workers and trigger an exodus of workers from a sector already struggling with huge staff shortages. Left-wing Labour MPs, including Communities Secretary Angela Rayner, condemned plans to apply the rules retrospectively, claiming it was “shifting the goalposts”.
The Home Secretary defended her original proposals by arguing criminal gangs – including drug dealers – had exploited the health and care visa, setting up fraudulent companies and scamming people hoping to move to the UK. She even recalled one constituent declaring: “Every drug dealer in Birmingham is now becoming a care provider”. But, amid growing pressure from trade union barons, members of the Cabinet, and the Labour Left, Ms Mahmood offered a series of concessions to prevent an all-out rebellion and civil war.
The Home Office said: “Many care workers came to the UK when the country needed them.
“But the route was also abused. Rogue sponsors offered jobs or hours that did not exist, and a significant number of people who came through the route have not gone on to undertake the genuine care work required of them.
“In some cases, individuals have come to the UK without the skills or language to fulfil these roles.
“This is an abuse of our rules and undermines the integrity of the route. A fair response must recognise this full picture.
“Care workers who entered, or switched into, the route before the publication of the Immigration White Paper in May 2025 will retain the existing five-year qualifying period for settlement where they meet the applicable salary (£25,000), sponsorship and employment requirements.
“They will also need to meet the strengthened minimum requirement that will apply generally, including on criminal and English language, unless an exemption applies.”
Some 4.2 million migrants moved to the UK between 2021 and 2024. Reform’s Zia Yusuf said: “Shabana Mahmood has completely betrayed the country by abandoning reforms to ILR, as has Andy Burnham who promised the people of Makerfield that he backed reforms to ILR.
“Her weakness is all because Andy Burnham is too weak to stand up to the mad far left Labour MPs.
“It is a fiscal catastrophe in waiting, allowing Boriswave life time access to our welfare adding hundreds of billions to our national debt.
“Once again, the British people are picking up the tab for years of Tory open borders.”
