Foreign workers could face long wait for right to remain in UK

About 1.5 million foreign workers who have moved to Britain since 2020 may have to wait a further five years to apply for permanent settlement, in a move that will concern Labour MPs.

- Rajeev Syal Sally Weale Peter Walker

Under changes set out in the immigration white paper, automatic settlement and citizenship rights will be granted after 10 years instead of five. But the paper did not specify whether this would apply to recent arrivals already in the UK and in the process of their application.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, will consult stakeholders on whether the Home Office will apply the changes to all migrants who have arrived in the UK in the past five years, according to government sources.

If the change goes through, it would mean that 1.5 million foreign workers who would have qualified for permanent settlement as soon as later this year face having to wait until they have lived in Britain for 10 years.

The Labour MP Florence Eshalomi told the House of Commons on Tuesday that she had been contacted by several of her constituents in Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, in south London, who were "worried about where this uncertainty leaves them".

She said: "One even told me that they were so worried that they were considering leaving the UK, because their settled status here is in jeopardy."