UK Isn’t Ruling Out Making Immigration Restrictions Retroactive

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Immigration minister Seema Malhotra said it is still too soon to know whether the government’s plans to make it harder for migrants to claim settlement in the UK will apply retroactively to those already in the country, potentially extending the wait for millions who arrived in the country since the pandemic.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK would be tightening its immigration system. One proposal was to prevent migrants from claiming settlement — a status that allows them certain benefits and the right to work in the UK permanently — until they had lived in the country for 10 years. That’s double the current period.

The government has been unclear about whether the new rules will apply to those already in the country and may nearly be at the end of the current five-year period needed to claim settlement. Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Malhotra said the government would need to consult on the proposal before it could say for certain.

“We will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year,” Malhotra said in the Commons. “We will be providing details of how the scheme will work after that, including on any transitional arrangements for those already in the UK.”

A person with knowledge of the Home Office’s thinking said ministers were hoping the policy would apply retroactively, due to the huge surge in migration the UK has experienced since the Covid-19 pandemic. Around three million people — many of whom were low-paid care workers or dependents of workers — will soon be able to claim settlement under the five-year rule, the person said. Officials are concerned that giving them all settled status could place an unsustainable burden on the UK’s welfare budget and public services.

Olly Glover, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament, also raised in the Commons the case of one of his constituents who had come to work in the UK’s pharmaceutical industry and was a higher-rate taxpayer. “The sudden increase to the qualifying period from five to 10 years has plunged hardworking people like Kamala into uncertainty about their future,” he said.

The Home Office has said it will create a “points-based” system by which people who “show a real and lasting contribution to the economy and society” can reduce the 10-year timeline to settlement. However it has not yet outlined the criteria on which these points would be awarded.

Of course they aren’t, one of the biggest points of contention going into the 2029 GE will be the increase in ILR and citizenship grants following record immigration figures over the last four years and possibly the chain migration connected to it.

I’d normally say that “not ruling something out” isn’t really news.

However this decision impacts a lot of people up and down the country.

It really shouldn’t have been announced without this detail being clear.

I understand everyone hates immigrants these days but these are real people with real lives. If you’re going to pull the rug out from under them like this at least have some clarity.

I feel like we’re walking backwards to the Windrush years where the government is making big changes to placate the daily mail mob without any of the very important detail being worked through.

Looks like the UK’s playing immigration roulette again—hold onto your passports, folks.

For the change to be “retroactive” it would have to remove settled status from people who already have it, because they don’t meet the new criteria. Applying it to people already in the country but who don’t have settled status yet isn’t retroactive, it just doesn’t have any grandfather clause/phased implementation.

Why can’t they make a decision? What are they concerned about and why the delay in making a decision? Clearly applying the change retroactively would impact many lives.

Can I just get some credit for the taxes I pay instead of getting double dipped on that NHS surcharge? Fucking scam.

Nor should it.

Immigration restrictions should be immediate and retroactive, this indecision and pussyfooting around the issue is having a disastrous impact on our country that will lead to extreme situations if not dealt with.

We are already 2 decades too late in dealing with this problem.

If government decided to apply retroactively, will it hold in the courts?

Changing to 10 years route is necessary as it mostly eliminates visa abuse.