UK PLANS TOUGHER RESIDENCY RULES – Foreign minister Mahmood says applicants will have to prove their value to society
Foreign minister Shabana Mahmood said the UK plans to tighten the rules over how migrants can settle permanently by making applicants prove their value to society, including being able to speak a “high standard” of English.
The plan is the latest government effort to dent the rising popularity of the populist Reform UK party, which has led the debate on tackling illegal immigration and forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to toughen its policies.
Most legal migrants can currently apply for “indefinite leave to remain” after five years of living in Britain, a status that gives them the right to live permanently in the country.
In her first speech to the Labour Party conference as foreign minister, Mahmood said the government is considering making changes so people will only qualify for this status if they pay social security contributions, have a clean criminal record, do not claim benefits, can speak English, and have a record of volunteering in their communities.
Mahmood said a consultation on the proposals will be launched later this year, building on the government’s earlier announcement that this standard qualifying period would be changed to a baseline of 10 years.
