To deter migration, UK proposes new settlement rules

Days after announcing a Reorganization of UK asylum law.The country’s Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, published proposed changes to the routes to settling in the UK (also known as ‘settlement’, ‘indefinite leave to remain’ or ILR). Under the proposed changes, high-income earners and business owners would qualify in three years, some in five years, while the default term would be ten years, and some people would have to wait 20 or even 30 years to reach an agreement.

The changes to the law, as proposed, will affect tens of thousands of Indians who have been the largest group of long-term non-EU migrants in the UK since at least 2019.

Keir Starmer’s Labor government had already announced it would hold a public consultation on a new contributions-based system for the ILR, the core of which is doubling the default qualifying period from five to ten years.

The consultation, which began on Thursday (November 20) and is open until February 12. The government called it “the largest restructuring of the legal migration system in almost half a century.”

High earners earning more than GBP 125,140 and entrepreneurs with Global Talent and Innovative Founder visas would be eligible to settle within three years under the proposals. Those earning at least £50,270 a year will be eligible within five years.

All applicants will be required to meet minimum salary standards (at least £12,750 per annum for 3-5 years, subject to the outcome of the consultation). They must also have a minimum level of English and have no taxes or other government debts.

Those who receive public funds could face up to 20 years of stay in the country and up to 30 years for those who overstay their visa.

Adult dependents of an economic migrant (a spouse, for example) will no longer qualify based on their partner’s income under the proposed rules. Instead, they will have their own qualification period and criteria based on their circumstances.

The 616,000 workers on health and social care visas and their dependents who arrived in the UK between 2022 and 2024 will now have to wait 15 years to obtain the ILR. This visa route was closed earlier this year after the UK government said individual workers were being exploited and abused.

The UK government intends to apply the new rules retrospectively, although it says the transitional arrangements will be finalized following the consultation process. In 2008 and 2009, when the government changed the qualifying period for settlement of certain highly skilled immigrants from four to five years, the UK High Court overturned it based on an administrative law principle called “legitimate expectation.” Parliament is supreme in the UK and the courts cannot overturn primary legislation, but changes to immigration rules are often made by a declaration of changes rather than Acts of Parliament, making them subject to judicial review.