Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced radical plans to significantly extend the time illegal migrants must wait to apply for permanent residency in the UK. Under the proposed changes, individuals who arrive in the UK illegally or overstay their visas and then claim asylum will have to wait 20 years before they can apply for settlement.
This proposed 20-year period would be the longest in Europe, surpassing Denmark's current eight-year pathway. The Home Secretary stated these reforms are intended to curb immigration and reduce the "pull-factor" for migrants coming to the UK, describing them as the "most sweeping changes to our asylum system in a generation" and warning that "illegal migration is tearing our country apart." Alongside the extended wait time, plans also include the potential scrapping of automatic state handouts to many asylum seekers and restricting their access to other benefits.
Officials revealed that the government may revoke the statutory legal duty to provide asylum-seeker support, such as housing and weekly allowances, for those who are able to work and support themselves but choose not to. Furthermore, asylum status would no longer be granted permanently, but instead reviewed every two to three years.
These proposals, which are reportedly based on hardline Danish immigration laws that have led to a significant drop in asylum claims, have already drawn criticism from within the Labour party, with one MP describing some Danish reforms as "undeniably racist." In response, opposition leader Kemi Badenoch has criticized Labour's ability to enact meaningful change and offered to collaborate with the government on asylum system reform.
