Mahmood scraps settlement plans for migrant care workers
Migrant care workers given 'five year path' to remain in UK - home secretary Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has scrapped plans to make foreign care workers already in the UK wait 15 years to qualify for permanent settlement. They can also use it to apply for British citizenship. Labour MPs pull their punches on immigration changes What are the planned changes to immigration rules? For the Conservatives, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said opposition from Mahmood's fellow ministers and the "Labour open borders left" had resulted in the changes from Mahmood's original proposals, adding that she was "no longer running the government's immigration policy". Most people who come to the UK do so legally, after being granted a visa before they travel. A visa gives someone permission to enter or stay in the UK for a specific purpose, such as work, study or joining family members. The most common type of visa people came to the UK on was study, which made up 53% of all visa entries from July 2025 to June 2026. Together, people from China and India accounted for nearly half of all study visas. "She talked a big game on immigration but has u-turned at the first sign of trouble from her left wing Labour colleagues," he said. He vowed to review citizenship of all those arriving on care visas from today and extend the qualifying period for citizenship to a minimum of 10 years.
