In brief
UK immigration rules now mean most foreign workers must wait up to ten years for permanent residency, tied to earnings. Care workers can settle after five years if they earn at least £25,000, and refugees who arrive via safe legal routes also qualify for five‑year residency. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the changes link settlement to economic contribution and that care workers will not face the longer waits that were earlier proposed.
The United Kingdom has changed its immigration rules, pushing most foreign workers into a longer wait for permanent residency. The normal five‑year clock is now set at up to ten years, with the wait stretched to as long as thirty years for refugees arriving on “small boats.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood explained the changes in Parliament, saying the decision was to "link settlement to what immigrants contribute" and that those who earn more than £125,000 a year could apply after three years, while those earning over £50,000 can apply after five. Everyone else faces the ten‑year route.
Care workers and certain refugees are the only groups exempt from the longer wait. Care workers who earn at least £25,000 a year can settle after five years, while refugees who enter the country through one of the government’s new safe and legal routes also qualify for five years. Mahmood said the fast‑track was a way to reward people who "worked hard and answered our call when we needed them."
Earlier this year, the Labour Party fought plans that would have made care workers wait fifteen years. The Home Secretary has since scrapped that proposal, keeping the five‑year exemption for care workers alive. Reuters reported that the government had announced the longer waits last year but has since eased them for this group.
The new rules will apply to people already living in the UK, meaning many who have been working here will find their eligibility to settle reassessed. The changes aim to reduce the state’s benefits costs and restore fairness, according to Mahmood, by rewarding economic contribution and penalising those who "play by the rules".
