Most migrants to wait 10 years to settle in the UK under new 'earned settlement' rules; care workers keep a five-year route

Most migrants will have to wait 10 years before they can apply to settle permanently in the United Kingdom, up from five years now, under an “earned settlement” model that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood set out before Parliament on Monday 2 November, the Home Office said.

Under the rules, the highest earners could settle within three years, and people earning more than £50,271 and some public service workers, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, after five years. People who have broken immigration rules would wait at least 20 years, the Home Office said.

All applicants would first need a clean criminal record, a high standard of spoken English, no debts to the taxpayer and a record of sustained National Insurance contributions.

Care workers who met their visa conditions and earned at least £25,000 a year will be able to settle after five years, the government said. The Guardian reported that this replaces an earlier proposal of 15 years, and AP reported that the government had backed down from a 15-year wait. The Home Office estimated that more than 500,000 people will wait longer than five years. It said no one would be forced to leave and that settled status would not be removed from anyone who already holds it.

Refugees arriving on approved routes could settle after five years. People who arrived by small boat or other clandestine means would face an extra 10-year wait, meaning up to 30 years, according to the Home Office.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said people “want to see an immigration system based on control, contribution, and which rewards those who play by the rules.” Mahmood said: “Settled status is one of the most valuable rights this country can offer… From today, it must be earned.”