Days after announcing a shake-up of U.K. asylum law, the country’s Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, released proposed changes to the routes for settling in the U.K. (also known as ‘settlement’ , ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’ or ILR). Under the proposed changes, high earners and entrepreneurs would qualify in three years, some in five years, while the default would be ten years, with some individuals having to wait 20 or even 30 years to settle.
Changes to the law, along the proposed lines, will impact tens of thousands of Indians who have been the largest group of non-EU long-term migrants to the U.K. since at least 2019.
The Labour government of Keir Starmer had already announced that it would run a public consultation on a new contributions based system for ILR at the heart of which is a doubling of the default qualifying period from five to 10 years.
The consultation, which began on Thursday is open until February 12. The government called it the “biggest shake-up of the legal migration system in nearly half a century”.
High earners who make more than GBP 125,140 and entrepreneurs on the Global Talent and Innovator Founder visas would be eligible to settle in three years under the proposals. Those who earn at least GBP 50,270 per year will be eligible in five years.
All applicants will have to meet minimum salary standards (at least GBP 12,750 per year for 3-5 years subject to the outcome of the consultation). They will also have to have minimum standards of English and have no tax or other government debt.
Those who receive public funds could face up to 20 years for settlement and visa overstayers up to 30 years.
The adult dependents of an economic migrant (a spouse for instance) will no longer qualify based on their partner’s earnings as per the proposed rules. They will instead have their own qualifying period and criteria based on their circumstances.
The 616,000 health and social care visa workers and their dependents who came to the U.K. between 2022 and 2024 will now have to wait 15 years for ILR. This visa route was closed earlier this year after the U.K. government said individual workers were being exploited and abused.
The UK government intends to apply the new rules retrospectively although it states that transitional arrangements will be finalised following the consultation process. In 2008 and 2009, when the government changed the qualifying period for settlement for certain highly skilled migrants from four to five years, the UK High Court overruled it based on a principle of administrative law called “legitimate expectation”. Parliament is supreme in the U.K. and courts cannot overturn primary legislation but immigration rule changes are often made via a statement of changes rather than Acts of Parliament, making them subject to judicial review .
ENDS