Keir Starmer's citizenship plans ‘will increase illegal migrants'

Times

3 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer's plans to double the time foreigners must wait to qualify for permanent settlement have plunged 1.7 million people in limbo and will increase Britain's illegal migrant population, experts have said.
Immigration reforms announced last month will double the time foreign citizens must wait before they can settle in the UK and apply for British citizenship to ten years.
The Times revealed that Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, wanted to apply these changes to all migrants who arrived in the UK in the past five years because of concerns that the record levels of immigration since the post-Brexit immigration system came into effect in 2020 would lead to hundreds of thousands of extra people being granted permanent settlement in the UK.
Grants of British citizenship hit a record high of 269,621 last year, while 172,798 were given permanent settlement, the highest level in 13 years.
Analysis by the IPPR think tank has found that plans to apply the ten-year wait on settlement rights will apply to 1.2 million migrant workers, 183,000 Hongkongers and 160,000 refugees who were on a route to settlement at the end of last year.
They will now be forced to wait another five years — ten in total — to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Once an individual has been granted indefinite leave to remain, they can apply for British citizenship.
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The IPPR warned that this would be detrimental to efforts to integrate migrants into society and would also risk increasing the number of illegal migrants in the UK.
Gaining indefinite leave to remain grants foreign citizens the right to live, work and study in the UK without restriction and ends the need to pay visa fees and annual payments of more than £1,000 to access the NHS. It also removes the bar on accessing mainstream benefits.
This 'gives people a secure foundation to put down roots, integrate into their communities and pursue long-term career goals — for instance by allowing them to move into new jobs without needing to reapply for a visa,' according to the paper by the IPPR's Marley Morris and Lucy Mort.
They warned: 'Lengthening the route to settlement therefore risks holding up migrant integration and significantly expanding the group of people in the UK with insecure status.'
There are no official figures on the size of Britain's illegal migrant population but unofficial estimates have ranged from 700,000 to 1.2 million.
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They said extending the wait to secure permanent settlement would place pressures on household budgets, making it harder to find stable work and prevent people from feeling 'properly settled'.
The need for additional visa extensions and the significant costs associated with applying increase the risk that people miss the window for extending and end up without status altogether, making them susceptible to exploitation and destitution, the pair warned.
The IPPR said the changes were unfair given migrants originally came to the UK on the basis they would be eligible for settlement after five years not ten.
The paper also argued that the reforms went against public opinion. The annual British social attitudes survey last year found 84 per cent of the public believed that migrants who were working and paying taxes in the UK should be able to access the same welfare benefits as UK citizens after five years or fewer.
Seventy-eight per cent said migrants should be able to gain the same rights to political participation as UK citizens after no more than five years.
The immigration white paper said migrants would be able to fast-track their route to settlement in the UK through 'contributions to the UK economy and society'.
The Home Office has not set out how migrants can qualify for this fast-tracked process.
Morris and Mort said there were various ways this policy could be implemented in practice. One of them is basing contributions on income, meaning higher-paid migrants can qualify for earlier settlement if they are contributing more to tax revenues.
However, they warned that this approach risked entrenching child poverty because it would be harder for people with children to qualify for settlement.
Another model could be basing it on social contribution, which would encourage migrants to integrate. For instance, people who are able to demonstrate 'exceptional integration' through volunteering or playing an active role in their community could obtain settlement more quickly.
This would follow a similar approach introduced by the last German government when reforming its citizenship laws.
Morris and Mort urged the government to provide urgent clarity on who would be affected by the changes and how the fast-track process would work.
They said: 'The government has said that it will consult on its plans later this year. This will be a vital opportunity for shaping a pro-integration agenda on settlement and citizenship. But in the meantime, the government should try to clarify its position on how the policy will apply to people already here. Providing certainty would help to establish trust and confidence in the immigration system for the many hundreds of thousands who want to make the UK their home.'