Most social care workers already in the UK could be exempted from plans to extend the wait for permanent residence, the BBC reports. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to present the final decision to Parliament in the coming week. The report concerns the expected shape of the reform, not rules that have already taken effect.
The earlier proposal would have increased the standard qualifying period for settlement from five to ten years. Some lower-paid migrants would have faced a fifteen-year wait. However, according to the BBC’s reporting, the government is likely to soften the proposal for most people already working in the UK’s social care sector.
For most other workers covered by the proposal, ten years is still expected to be the starting point before they can apply for settlement. The BBC says that period could be shortened through higher earnings or contributions to the local community. The BBC report does not detail the criteria for shortening that period.
Final rules still to be presented to Parliament
According to the BBC, the consultation on the proposed reform received 200,000 responses. The Home Office, the government department responsible for immigration, is not commenting on final decisions before they are presented to Parliament. The BBC report does not give an implementation date for the proposed changes or full transitional arrangements for people already living and working in the UK.
Permanent residence, known as indefinite leave to remain (ILR), allows people to live, work and study in the UK without a time limit. It also allows them to apply for benefits if they meet the relevant eligibility criteria. The proposed waiting periods concern the route to qualifying for this status: they do not mean it would be granted automatically after the stated number of years.
For people planning their future in the UK, the scope of the reform and how previous residence will be treated will be crucial. For now, the BBC’s reporting does not establish which rules would apply to every immigration route. Nor does it provide grounds to infer changes to the EU Settlement Scheme, the system providing settlement status for eligible EU citizens and their family members.
