Indefinite leave to remain changes are devastating - I worry I'll lose everything

Young people who were on the path to permanent residency have warned proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) would be “financially devastating”. For some young professionals, the changes to ILR , including extending the qualifying period, have left them unable to settle and plan their lives in the UK. “The visa system is crippling,” said 25-year-old Kennedy Randall. Randall added that “it already takes so much forward planning, both logistically and financially, so it’s incredibly stressful when the Government is constantly proposing that the rules will change”.

“It just feels like they play with our visas and our futures for political currency,” she told The i Paper . “I don’t think that politicians have any consideration for the human, or the financial, cost associated with what they are saying. “I’m not an anxious person, but I’m now constantly worrying if I’m going to lose everything I’ve worked for.” The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood , also proposed increasing the qualifying period for permanent residence from five to 10 years, with some low-paid jobs rising to 15 years, as she faces pressure from the right to deal with the “Boris wave” of record immigration, which could mean hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived from 2021 will soon get the right to settle in the UK.

Mahmood indicated that she might water down this aspect of the proposed reforms in a speech at the Labour Party conference last month and is expected to announce her decision next week amid growing pressure from within her party, and trade unions. ‘I’m still fighting, tooth and nail, to get the right to stay’ Sophie (not her real name) has lived in London for eight years. She came to the UK from America to study and has already had to fight to stay in the country.

Sophie lost her job during the pandemic and, because she is an American citizen, she wasn’t eligible for furlough. “I’ve been homeless twice since living here,” she said, but has “worked so hard” to make a life for herself. She now works full time, alongside running a small business, and has bought a flat with her partner in Essex. Until recently, she believed she was only three years off permanent residency in the UK as her time during her studies does not count towards ILR.

However, with the Government proposing to double the amount of time many migrants have to wait before they can apply for ILR, Sophie may have to wait another eight years before she is eligible for settled status. If the proposed changes in immigration law come into force this autumn, she will have lived in the UK for 16 years – almost half her life – before she can apply for ILR. Not only is the prospect “horrifying”, but for Sophie, it will be “financially devastating”.

As an American citizen, she pays taxes in both the UK and the US. “I’ve got no interest in going back there to America because I don’t like the work-life balance, and I don’t want to have kids and send them to school in America – it’s too dangerous,” she added. Frustrated by the visa system in the UK, Sophie has tried to move to other countries in Europe but always finds herself drawn back here. “I contribute to the economy. I’ve got no criminal record, and my name is on a mortgage, and yet, I’m still fighting, tooth and nail, to get to have the right to stay.

How are these changes helping anyone?” she said. “You have to think if someone’s leaving their home, something’s got to be wrong.” ‘People have no idea how expensive it is to stay here’ Margaret Ann Fekete, 24, moved to London from Yukon, western Canada, to study law. Since completing her undergraduate degree, she has become a case manager for an insurance firm and made a life for herself in the capital. “I love the culture, the museums, the night life,” she said.

Margaret Ann Fekete, who moved to London from Canada, is facing high visa fees in order to remain in the UK But due to the proposed immigration changes Ann Fekete is having to use the costly spouse visa route. She said despite going via the spouse visa route, her situation is “incredibly precarious” due to how much the process will cost her and her partner who is a junior doctor. “A spouse visa is expensive – you have to reapply approximately every two and half years and that costs just over £2,000,” she added.

As part of visa applications, migrants pay an immigration health surchange (IHS). Under a spouse visa, this is £3,105 across 30-33 months. Ann Fekete has calculated that it will cost her £20,000 in visa and IHS fees, if the time before she can apply for settled status is extended. She added: “It’s hard because I’m a UK taxpayer and already contributing to the NHS. I did know what I was getting into when I moved here, and I knew it would be difficult.”

Regardless, Ann Fekete said the most disheartening thing is hearing “people talk about immigrants not paying their way”. “It frustrates me because people have no idea how expensive and how difficult it is… And yeah, I could just ‘go home’ but my life is here,” she added. The head of the Unison union, Andrea Egan, in an interview with The i Paper last month, accused the Home Secretary of “dehumanising” migrants and fuelling the far right .

Fellow Cabinet minister Angela Rayner has also criticised Mahmood’s reforms, labelling them “un-British” and warning they would unfairly “move the goalposts” for foreign workers already in the UK. A Home Office spokesperson told The i Paper : “This Government has announced reforms that mean settlement must be earned and not automatic. “We are currently considering responses to our consultation on elements of these reforms.”