UK doubles permanent residency wait to 10 years, care workers spared

The United Kingdom is doubling the waiting game. Under revised immigration rules, most foreign workers will now have to clock 10 years before they can claim permanent residency — known in Britain as indefinite leave to remain — up from five. The new rules take effect next year and will apply retroactively to people already living and working in the country, according to Al Jazeera.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told Parliament on Monday that settlement must be earned, not handed out. The plan ties the wait to income: workers earning more than 50,000 pounds a year get to apply after five years, and those clearing 125,000 pounds after just three. Everyone else lands on the decade-long path. For context, the UK's median salary sits around 39,000 pounds.

Care workers got a last-minute lifeline. After a political uproar inside the governing Labour Party, Mahmood carved out an exemption letting them settle after five years if they meet their visa conditions and earn at least 25,000 pounds annually. She framed it as a nod to people who worked hard and answered the call when the country needed them — a nod to the early-2020s scramble to fill gaps left by European workers who left after Brexit.

Refugees face a far steeper climb. Those arriving through the government's new safe and legal routes can settle in five years. For other refugees the standard wait jumps to 20 years, cut to 10 if they work or study. Anyone who arrived by what the government calls an illegal method, such as a small boat across the Channel, could wait as long as 30 years. Criminal records, weak English, unpaid government debts or fewer than three years of national insurance contributions can all disqualify applicants.

The overhaul follows a 12-week public consultation that pulled in more than 200,000 responses. Mahmood said half a million people will settle later than they otherwise would have, saving the government billions in benefits. Officials estimate up to 1.4 million people will get settled status between 2026 and 2030. The government also says tighter UK-France law enforcement cooperation has cut Channel crossings by more than 40 percent compared with 2025.

The squeeze is political as much as fiscal. Nigel Farage's Reform UK has ridden demands for stricter migration controls to a surge in popularity, painting small-boat arrivals as a crisis while anti-immigration protests have popped up outside asylum facilities. The government first floated waits of 10 to 15 years last year, but unions and Labour's own ranks pushed back hard — and the care worker carve-out is the visible result.