UK drops plan for 15-year residency wait for foreign care workers

British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has dropped plans to make foreign care workers wait 15 years for permanent residency in the UK. Under the updated policy finalized on Monday, care workers earning at least £25,000 annually and who arrived before May 2025 will keep a five-year path to indefinite leave to remain. The revision follows strong pushback from Labour MPs, health unions, and a public consultation that drew over 202,000 responses.

Visa Rules

The broader overhaul still moves many other migrants onto a 10-year path to settlement if they earn under £50,000 a year. Higher earners making over £50,000, along with doctors, nurses, and teachers, will qualify after five years, while top earners making more than £125,000 can apply after three years. The Conservative opposition criticized the policy shift as a U-turn that will cost taxpayers billions, while the Refugee Council condemned separate rules requiring refugees who arrived by small boat to wait up to 30 years.

Context

Indefinite leave to remain gives people the right to live, work, and study in the UK indefinitely and apply for citizenship. The original stricter proposals were introduced following record post-Brexit net migration figures between 2021 and 2024.