Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is open to revising plans to extend most migrants’ wait for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years, after pressure from Labour MPs including Angela Rayner and trade unions; no final decision has been made.
Under the proposals, people arriving on health and social care visas would wait 15 years, while those who had relied on benefits for more than 12 months would wait 20 years. Indefinite leave to remain allows holders to live, work and study in the UK indefinitely and apply for benefits if eligible.
At Labour’s conference, Mahmood said the government would seek to balance fairness for people who came legally with fairness to British citizens. Rayner had earlier called the proposals “un-British”, while Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said they would unfairly penalise overseas care workers. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the consultation was still considering a range of views.
