Migrants in the UK will face waits of between three and 30 years to secure settlement rights under sweeping rule changes set out by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. The timelines vary depending on how people arrived in the country and what they have done since, following a large-scale consultation that led to several tweaks to the original plans.
New settlement timelines by group
The new system applies different waiting periods to different groups of migrants:
- Three years: For migrants earning over £125,141 and paying the additional rate of tax, and highly skilled migrants on routes such as Global Talent and Innovator Founder.
- Five years: For migrants earning over £50,271 and paying the higher rate of tax, skilled public sector workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers, and refugees who arrived via the government's safe and legal routes.
- 10 years: The new standard for all other migrants earning below those thresholds, and refugees who did not arrive by small boats (for example, arriving on a visa and applying for refugee status after it runs out) and are now working or studying.
- 20 years: For any migrant who claims certain benefits while in the UK or commits a visa offence, refugees who did not arrive by small boat but are not working or studying, and refugees who arrived by small boat and are now working or studying.
- 30 years: For refugees who arrived by small boat but are not working or studying.
Changes for social care workers
Mahmood made several adjustments to her plans following the consultation, including watering down measures concerning social care workers who arrived after the Covid pandemic. Those who arrived on a care visa between the pandemic and May last year will be able to settle after five years, as long as they met their visa conditions and earned at least £25,000 a year.
Around a quarter of care workers who arrived during that period did not meet their visa conditions due to dodgy companies sponsoring them for jobs that did not exist. These individuals will get a second chance with a new five-year visa, but only if they can secure an offer of a secure job within 120 days. If they cannot, they will need to leave the UK.
Mahmood said the policy creates a migration system that is 'fair to those who come here and play their part, and fair to British citizens already here, who must not be asked to bear a greater burden'.
