London, Nov 2 (PTI) Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday backtracked on a tougher retrospective stance of tripling the time overseas care workers must wait for settlement in the UK, a move set to benefit several Indians who used the Health and Social Care visa route.
Following the conclusion of a year-long public consultation, Mahmood told Parliament she had arrived at a “fair deal” of allowing five-year settlement for care workers who answered the country’s call after the COVID pandemic.
According to the latest Home Office statistics this year, Indians lead the tally of workers under the Health and Social Care category who were granted 104,555 visa extensions in the year ending December 2025. Most of them will now be eligible for their Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) within the originally stipulated timeframe of five years.
“People want to see an immigration system based on control, contribution, and which rewards those who play by the rules,” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement.
“These proposals are based on that principle and recognise the contribution made by overseas workers to our country.
“Following Brexit, the previous government lost control of immigration, with an unprecedented spike in numbers. This Home Secretary is gripping this problem, and she has my full support in doing so,” he said.
Burnham reiterated that it was “only fair” that migrants who make the most valuable contribution to the country are given the opportunity to settle earlier.
“Those in other roles should expect to wait longer while people who abuse the system or arrive illegally will be refused or will also have to wait longer,” he added.
In recognition of the contribution care workers made to Britain when the sector was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, those who met their visa conditions and earned at least 25,000 pounds a year will be able to settle after five years, the Home Office has confirmed.
Mahmood, a South Asian heritage minister whose parents migrated to the UK from Kashmir, referenced her family’s experience as she set out details of the “earned settlement” migration plans, which will see high earners rewarded with faster routes to settlement.
She stressed that the care worker visa route was also “abused, with rogue and exploitative companies sponsoring workers for jobs that did not exist”.
Those who do not qualify for five-year settlement – around a quarter of the total – will be offered a second chance to contribute through a new five-year visa. They will be able to apply for settlement only once these have been completed, the Home Office has said.
A similar approach will apply to public service workers in healthcare and education who arrived during the same period.
“Settled status is one of the most valuable rights this country can offer. Until now it has been given almost automatically,” Mahmood told MPs.
“From today, it must be earned. Those who contribute most will settle fastest. Those who don’t play by the rules will be refused or wait much longer.
“This policy creates a migration system that is fair: 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,” she said.
The reforms tabled in the House of Commons this week mean that how long someone waits for ILR, the first step towards British citizenship, will now depend on “contribution and character”.
Those earning more than 50,271 pounds a year and some public service workers – like doctors, nurses and teachers – will be able to settle after five years. Others will settle at a new default of 10 years. Those who have breached immigration rules will only be able to settle after at least 20 years.
The Home Office added that anyone seeking ILR, regardless of when they arrived in the country, will first need to meet four non-negotiable conditions – a spotless criminal record (up from the current threshold of a 12-month suspended sentence); English spoken to a high standard; no debt owed to the UK taxpayer; and a record of sustained National Insurance contributions.
Settlement rules will continue to apply at the point of application. According to official estimates, an estimated 500,000 people will wait longer than five years to settle under the new rules. No one will be forced to leave, and everyone will have a fair chance to apply for new visas that would allow them to settle after 10 years, the Home Office noted.
Meanwhile, refugees on approved “safe and legal” routes will be able to settle after five years and others who arrive illegally can settle at 20 years, reduced to 10 years for those who work or study.
Anyone who arrived by small boat or another clandestine means of entry will face an additional 10-year waiting period – meaning they could wait up to 30 years for settlement. PTI AK GRS GRS
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