Care workers who earn at least £25,000 a year while meeting their visa conditions and entered the United Kingdom (UK) before May 2025 now qualify for permanent settlement in the UK after five years under new plans to overhaul immigration rules, announced by the UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood on Monday.
This is an improvement on an earlier proposal which required care workers to wait up 15 years before qualifying for permanent settlement.
The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday set out the new plans to overhaul immigration rules in the UK.
Under the plans, the standard length of time migrants will have to live in the UK to qualify for permanent settlement will double from five to 10 years.
However, there will be a shorter qualifying period of five years for certain groups, including:
- People who earned at least £50,271 for three of five years immediately before applying for settlement
- Care workers who earned at least £25,000 a year while meeting their visa conditions and arrived in the UK before May 2025
- "Skilled" public service workers, such as doctors, nurses and teachers, and other health and education public service workers
People earning over £125,141 a year, as well as "highly skilled" migrants such as those on Global Talent or Innovator Founder visas, will qualify after three years.
Migrants who have claimed certain benefits or breached immigration rules will only be able to settle after at least 20 years.
To qualify for settlement, migrants will also have to meet other conditions, which includes having a clean criminal record, speaking English to a high standard, owing no debt to the taxpayer, and having a "record of sustained National Insurance Contributions".
How reliant is the care sector on foreign workers?
The BBC reports that foreign workers make up a third of staff in the independent care sector in England, according to figures from charity Skills For Care.
It said a total of 6% of care workers were from EU countries in 2025/26, while 27% were from non-EU countries, including ghana, Nigeria, India and Zimbabwe.
The King’s Fund, a health think tank, recorded nearly 1.7 million roles in the adult care sector in the same period, around 96,000 of which were vacant.
This was despite a "substantial increase" in international recruitment in the sector. It said the latest vacancy rate is 6.1%, which is down from a high of 10.2% in 2022.
Skills for Care also recorded a lower turnover rate among foreign care workers than those recruited in the UK.
It said Ben Brindle, from the Oxford Migration Observatory think tank, has told BBC Verify that: "The care sector has struggled to attract UK workers because of its relatively poor pay and working conditions.”
But he added that while care wages were relatively low by UK standards, “they can still be attractive to migrants compared with what they could earn in their home countries”.
Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association, on her part has also told the BBC the the new rules offer "breathing space" for care sector bosses, who will be relieved to know they're "not going to lose a whole tranche of [their] workforce".
Ahmed says its important "to raise the profile and the funding of social care" so that all care workers - domestic and international - are valued appropriately.
Settlement will be earned through contribution and good character
From the new plans, it has been explained that the right to live in the UK forever will no longer be granted to migrants almost automatically after 5 years. Instead, it will be earned, under the new earned settlement model set out before Parliament on Monday.
Recognising that settled status is a significant privilege which allows free and unrestricted access to the labour market, NHS and welfare system, the reforms will mean that how long someone waits will now depend on their contribution and character.
The highest earners will be able to settle within 3 years. Those earning more than £50,271 and some public service workers – like doctors, nurses and teachers – will be able to settle after 5 years. Others will settle at a new default of 10 years. Those who have breached immigration rules will only be able to settle after at least 20 years.
Anyone seeking settlement, regardless of when they arrived in the country, will first need to meet 4 non-negotiable conditions:
- a spotless criminal record (up from the current threshold of a 12-month suspended sentence)
- English spoken to a high standard (equivalent to A-Level English as a foreign language)
no debt owed to the taxpayer - a record of sustained National Insurance contributions
The reforms are largely in line with those set out in the November 2025 consultation However, the government has set out a new, fair deal for care workers.
In recognition of the contribution care workers made to Britain when the sector was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, those who met their visa conditions and earned at least £25,000 a year will be able to settle after 5 years.
But the care worker route was also abused, with rogue and exploitative companies sponsoring workers for jobs that did not exist.
Under this government, 1,800 exploitative employers have been stripped of their right to sponsor foreign workers.
Those who do not qualify for 5-year settlement – around a quarter of the total – will be offered a second chance to contribute through a new 5-year visa. They will be able to apply for settlement only once these have been completed.
A similar approach will apply to public service workers in healthcare and education who arrived during the same period.
Settlement rules will otherwise continue to apply at the point of application, as they always have in Britain and internationally.
As a result, an estimated over 500,000 people will wait longer than 5 years to settle, taking billions off the welfare bill. No one will be forced to leave, and everyone will have a fair chance to apply for new visas that would allow them to settle after 10 years.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:
"People want to see an immigration system based on control, contribution, and which rewards those who play by the rules.
"These proposals are based on that principle and recognise the contribution made by overseas workers to our country.
"Following Brexit, the previous government lost control of immigration, with an unprecedented spike in numbers. This Home Secretary is gripping this problem, and she has my full support in doing so.
"It is only fair that those who are making the most valuable contribution to our communities are given the opportunity to settle earlier. Those in other roles should expect to wait longer while people who abuse the system or arrive illegally will be refused or will also have to wait longer."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:
"Settled status is one of the most valuable rights this country can offer. Until now it has been given almost automatically.
"From today, it must be earned. Those who contribute most will settle fastest. Those who don’t play by the rules will be refused or wait much longer.
"This policy creates a migration system that is fair: fair to those who come here and play their part, and fair to British citizens already here, who must not be asked to bear a greater burden.
The policy also sets out settlement rights for all refugees. It encourages the use of controlled, capped safe and legal routes, and discourages illegal and unsafe small boat crossings.
Refugees on Home Office-approved routes will be able to settle after 5 years. Others will settle at 20 years, reduced to 10 years for those who work or study.
Anyone who arrived by small boat, or another clandestine means of entry, will face an additional 10-year waiting period – meaning they could wait up to 30 years for settlement.
Settled status will never be removed from anyone who already holds it. Family members of British citizens, Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) and members of the armed forces will keep their current pathways.
The UK will also have the most business friendly migration system in Europe for highly skilled workers.
