The UK government unveiled a new fast-track path to residency for high-earners, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to keep a broader clampdown on immigration from turning away skilled workers in the City of London and elsewhere.
Visa-holders earning more than £125,000 ($163,000) would be allowed to apply for indefinite leave to remain, or ILR, after three years, according to changes laid out by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Thursday. That compares with five years under current standards and a new 10-year threshold that the government has proposed as a baseline for visa-holders.
The quicker route to residency — and ultimately British citizenship — would also be open to entrepreneurs who hold Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas. Those earning salaries between £50,000 and £125,000 would have to wait five years, in line with the current provisions. Both groups would face tighter conditions on English-language skills and criminal records.
“To settle in this country forever is not a right, but a privilege,” Mahmood told the House of Commons. “And it must be earned.”
Mahmood has announced a flurry of overhauls to the UK’s immigration system in recent days as part of the Labour Party’s efforts to ease public worries about surging arrivals and slow the rise of Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK. The proposals, which include a sweeping crackdown asylum applications by people crossing the English Channel in small boats, represent a sharp break with Labour’s traditional support for migration and those fleeing unrest.
Besides stopping the boats, Starmer is also trying to roll back a surge in legal migration prompted by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to offset the economic impact of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic by bringing in foreign workers. The UK is facing the prospect of as many as 2.2 million people becoming eligible for ILR by 2030, with few restrictions on the benefits they could claim.
In May, Starmer pledged to end what he called the UK’s “experiment in open borders” as his government announced plans to double the length of time required to apply for ILR to 10 years from five. That caused a wave of anxiety to sweep across white-collar workers who had relocated to Britain on the promise of access to its world-class university system after a few years.
Fears Ease
The fast-track plan announced on Thursday appeared to largely assuage those fears among the best-paid. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that the government was was also considering an investor visa for foreigners who invest significant sums in Britain.
The move will help businesses reduce their immigration spend on highly paid talent, said Louise Haycock, partner at the immigration services firm Fragomen.
One City banker, who moved to the UK in 2022 and who had begun planning to relocate to the US on fears the changes would extend his ILR timeline, said Thursday’s changes meant he was now staying put.
Still, the proposals announced by Mahmood on Thursday would result in losers, as well as winners. Low-skilled care workers allowed in on Health and Care visas — a program expanded in the wake of the pandemic in 2022 — would have to wait at least 15 years to apply for ILR.
The Labour government argues that the Conservatives should’ve never allowed so many people in under those programs. But the restrictions on visas to fill jobs in the country’s understaffed social care sector could ripple through the economy.
The government has also raised the bar on those eligible to claim ILR. Applicants must have:
- A clean criminal record.
- Paid payroll tax contributions for the past three years.
- Owe no debt to the state, for example to the Home Office or National Health Service.
- Proven English-language proficiency.
The Home Office also plans to introduce penalties, which will be added on to the baseline time period which a person must wait.
For example, if a person has been claiming benefits for fewer than 12 months, they will get a five-year penalty. Those claiming welfare for longer than that time will receive a 10-year penalty. Mahmood is also proposing that only UK citizens should be allowed most benefits and social housing.
Any person who arrives through an illegal route, such as on small boats, will receive a penalty of 20 years on top of their 10-year baseline. After Mahmood announced a separate shake-up to the asylum system earlier this week, it is thought only a small number of people will fall into this category.
That would include those whose asylum claim has failed, but are allowed to stay for another reason, such as a successful claim under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which ensures the right to a family life.
Certain cohorts of migrants, as well as the well-paid, will see their baseline reduced. Anyone who can speak English to a higher standard than A-level will see the 10-year period reduced to nine years, and those who work in public services above certain level of seniority, such as doctors, nurses and some education staff, will remain on a five-year plan.
The new system will not apply to those who came to the UK fleeing persecution in Hong Kong on the British National (Overseas) route, or those who are family of British citizens. Those who are eligible for the Windrush Scheme or the EU Settlement Scheme will be considered separately, the Home Office said.
Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the changes would “make access to permanent status considerably more restrictive than comparable high-income countries” for many migrants.
The largest impact on a single group would be on care workers, she said. The inability to claim ILR would “prevent them from leaving their employers and moving into other sectors.” That follows reports from Bloomberg, among others, of widespread abuse and fraud by employers toward their employees in the care sector.
“Major questions remain unclear,” Sumption said. “These include what will happen to the children of the new generation of temporary migrants.”
(Reporting in Lucy White. With assistance from Will Standring and Meg Short.)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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