UK plans tougher rules for migrants seeking to stay in country

Migrants seeking to settle in the UK will have to have a job, not claim benefits, and undertake community work under plans to be unveiled by the interior minister on Monday.

Currently, those with family in Britain and who have lived there for five years qualify for “indefinite leave to remain” — permanent residence — as do those who have lived legally in the UK for 10 years on any type of visa.

Eligible applicants meeting those thresholds also earn the right to live, work and study in the UK and to apply for benefits and British citizenship.

But in a major policy shift, interior minister Shabana Mahmood was Monday to announce that migrants would have to make social security contributions, claim no benefits, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in their community in order to stay.

Mahmood will outline the plans at the annual conference of the ruling Labour Party, and the government will consult on the changes later this year, according to a press release from the party.

The announcement comes shortly after the opposition hard-right Reform Party, which is currently leading in national polls, said it would get rid of “indefinite leave to remain” altogether, with migrants instead required to reapply for visas every five years.

This would apply to the hundreds of thousands of people who have already attained leave to remain.

“These measures draw a clear dividing line between the Labour government and Reform, whose recent announcement… would force workers, who have been contributing to this country for decades, to leave their homes and families,” said the Labour Party statement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called Reform’s plan “racist”, adding it would “tear the country apart”.

In her first speech to the Labour conference as interior minister, Mahmood will say that migrants should learn English to a high standard and that she will be a “tough” minister.

Immigration is a key issue in the UK, and Mahmood will warn party members that a failure to tackle it will mean that “working people will turn away from us… and seek solace in the false promises” of Reform leader Nigel Farage.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves will also address the conference on Monday, when she will “vow to invest in Britain’s renewal” and announce new plans to get young people in work, according to a Labour press release.

AFP