Shabana Mahmood waters down plans to make foreign carers wait 15 years for settlement

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has watered down her plans to make foreign care workers wait up to 15 years for settlement after criticism from senior Labour figures.

Under her initial proposals, lower-qualified workers who arrived on health and social care visas during the “Boriswave” from 2022 could have been made to wait 15 years for permanent settlement.

But under the revised plans, foreign care workers who meet their visa conditions and earn at least £25,000 a year will now only have to wait five years, Mahmood told the Commons.

Foreign care workers who do not qualify for the five-year settlement will be able to apply for a new five-year visa, and then apply for settlement once it has been completed.

Tensions in the Cabinet over the policy surfaced when housing secretary Angela Rayner earlier this year publicly attacked the prospect of backdating the plans.

Then energy secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh repeatedly refused to say she backed proposals to prolong the qualifying period for settlement.

Elsewhere, Mahmood confirmed she will introduce the plan for refugees who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel by small boat to wait 20 years for settlement, rising to 30 years if they do not enter work or study.

She told the Commons “everyone will have a fair shot to make their contribution”, and accused the Conservatives of losing control of migration with “significant abuse of the care route”.

The home secretary said the Government will address this by “providing a five-year path to settlement for care workers who lived up to the promise that they made on coming to this country – worked hard and answered our call when we needed them”.

She added: “Those who earn £25,000 a year working in the social care sector, which was the condition of their visa, will therefore be able to settle on their existing five-year path.”

Mahmood said those who did not meet the conditions of their visa will be offered “a second chance to make the contribution that they came to this country to make”.

She added: “They will be able to apply for another five-year care visa, and they will not be tied to their old employer, allowing those with rogue sponsors to break away from them.”

Mahmood said workers will be helped to find new positions, adding: “Everyone will have a fair shot to make their contribution, and no-one will be punished for the sins of their employer, but we will also preserve the critical element of this reform: that settlement must be linked to contribution.”

She continued: “We will place those who come to this country on one of our new safe and legal routes on a five-year path to settlement.

“This is as fast a path as higher earners entering Britain today.

“At the same time, we will discourage the use of unsafe and illegal routes.

“The standard disqualifying period for all refugees who have not come by a safe and legal route will become 20 years.

“A further ten years will be added for those who enter the country by an illegal method, such as by small boat.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said it was “only fair that those who are making the most valuable contribution to our communities are given the opportunity to settle earlier”.

He added in a statement: “Following Brexit, the previous government lost control of immigration, with an unprecedented spike in numbers.

“This Home Secretary is gripping this problem, and she has my full support in doing so.”

Indefinite leave to remain (ILR), also known as settlement, is an immigration status that allows a person to live, work and study in the UK indefinitely and apply for benefits if they are eligible.

More than 200,000 responses were submitted to the consultation on Mahmood’s initial proposals.