Leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has criticised proposals to exempt some migrants from planned changes to Britain’s settlement rules, insisting that people who arrive on temporary work visas should not automatically be allowed to remain in the country permanently.
In a letter dated 13 June and addressed to the UK Home Secretary, Badenoch opposed reports that the Labour government was considering exempting around two million migrants who arrived on work visas between 2021 and the present from proposed changes extending the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five years to 10 years.
The Conservative leader said her party supported the proposal to lengthen the qualifying period and had previously tabled similar measures in Parliament.
“We are concerned to read reports that, following pressure from Labour MPs, you are now considering exempting approximately two million immigrants who entered the country on work visas from 2021 to today from the changes,” she wrote.
Badenoch argued that retaining the five-year route to settlement for the affected group would be a mistake.
“As Conservatives learned to our cost, five years is too short a time to obtain the indefinite right to remain in the UK. Many of these immigrants are working in low-wage, low-skilled jobs which could be done by some of the nine million economically inactive British citizens,” she said.
She maintained that migrants who are not making what she described as a significant economic contribution over a 10-year period should not qualify for permanent settlement.
According to Badenoch, those who are unemployed or working in low-paid jobs should return to their home countries when their temporary work visas expire.
The Conservative leader also argued that granting ILR gives recipients access to welfare benefits and provides a pathway to British citizenship after one year, warning that exempting the affected migrants could lead to increased public spending on benefits.
She further stated that the government has the authority to change the rules governing indefinite settlement, including for migrants already in the UK.
“No one who has come here on a temporary work visa should have the automatic right to stay forever, and changing the rules to extend the qualification period and add conditions for new applications does not constitute a retrospective change,” she said.
Badenoch’s comments prompted mixed reactions on social media platform X.
Some users supported her call for stricter immigration rules, while others argued that changing settlement requirements for migrants who had entered the UK under existing rules would be unfair and amounted to moving the goalposts. Others questioned why similar measures were not introduced when the Conservatives were in government.
