Legal migrants to face waits of 10 years or more for right to settle in UK
Some of the most contested elements of the home secretary's immigration overhaul could be watered down, amid speculation that social care workers already in Britain will be exempted.
The plans under discussion include extending the five-year wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) by up to 10 years for foreign care workers.
Shabana Mahmood is expected to announce her final decision on immigration rules for legal migrants on Monday.
A Home Office source confirmed that she will make a statement in the House of Commons.
The proposals drew more than 200,000 responses in a nearly year-long consultation.
Ms Mahmood initially set out the measures to delay settlement amid concerns over the wave of legal arrivals approaching eligibility in the wake of record post-Brexit net migration figures under the previous Tory government.
Her original proposals, unveiled in November 2025, would double the qualifying period for settlement for most migrants from five to 10 years, and potentially triple it to 15 for care workers.
But they triggered a backlash from a large number of Labour MPs who have suggested the reforms are unfair.
Ms Mahmood is now reportedly preparing to exempt existing social care workers from the lengthened timetable.
Her Conservative shadow criticised the reported dilution of her original plans, announced last year, following criticism from senior Labour figures.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp wrote on X on Sunday: "Tomorrow the Government will announce their U-turn on ILR, or Indefinite Leave to Remain.
"It's clear Shabana Mahmood has been forced to surrender to Angela Rayner and the open borders Labour left. She will now allow hundreds of thousands of low-wage and no-wage migrants to stay in the UK forever and claim benefits.
"By Mahmood's own admission in a speech this March, letting low wage care workers alone stay forever will cost taxpayers £10 billion and be an 'affront'.
"Now it looks likes she's about to do exactly that. After talking tough all year, Mahmood appears to have capitulated control of immigration policy to Angela Rayner – and Mahmood's position is looking increasingly untenable.
“The Conservative plan is a 10-year route to ILR, only for high wage workers. No more low wage workers should be allowed in, and those already here should be required to leave when their temporary work visa expires.”
Tensions in the Cabinet over the policy surfaced when Housing Secretary Angela Rayner earlier this year publicly attacked the prospect of backdating the plans.
Ms Rayner has previously described the prospect of applying the rules retrospectively to migrants already in the UK as “un-British”.
Then Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh repeatedly refused to say she backed proposals to prolong the qualifying period for settlement.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week said he strongly supported that ILR was a “right to be earned”, but stopped short of committing to bringing in all of Ms Mahmood's reforms.
Reform UK Treasury spokesperson Robert Jenrick said: "I can't believe Burnham would be stupid enough to give British citizenship to 400,000 people just six years after they came here.
"That would cost us hundreds of billions of pounds if they stay forever.
“It would go down as one of the worst decisions in modern British history.”
In an immigration speech in March, Ms Mahmood said that between 2021 and 2024 the country experienced levels of migration it had previously seen across four decades.
She raised particular concerns over arrivals via the health and social care visa.
She warned that without action, some 350,000 low-skilled workers and their dependants would qualify for settlement – and access to benefits – over the next five years.
This could come at a lifetime cost to the taxpayer of £10 billion, Ms Mahmood said, citing figures from the Migration Advisory Committee.
ILR 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.