Leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has urged the Labour government to retain its proposed 10-year qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), insisting that migrants who enter Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically qualify for permanent residency.
Badenoch made the call in a post on her X account on Monday while sharing a letter addressed to the UK Home Secretary.
She criticised pressure from some Labour lawmakers urging the government to dilute its planned immigration reforms.
The statement reads, “People who come to Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be able to stay forever.
“This Labour government was right to make that harder. Now their MPs want them to u-turn.
“Conservatives will back Labour’s original plan to help get it through Parliament,” she wrote.
The letter, jointly signed by Badenoch and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, expressed concern over reports that the Labour government was considering exempting about two million migrants who arrived in the UK on work visas between 2021 and now from the proposed extension of the qualifying period for ILR.
Badenoch described such a move as a “grave mistake,” arguing that Britain had previously experienced the consequences of allowing migrants to obtain permanent settlement too quickly.
“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.
“Individuals who are not making a significant economic contribution over a ten-year period should not be allowed to stay indefinitely. Those not working, or working in low-paid jobs, should be required to go home at the end of their temporary work visa,” the letter stated.
Badenoch further argued that granting ILR after only five years places additional pressure on the UK’s welfare system because successful applicants become eligible for social benefits and can later apply for British citizenship.
The letter noted that current immigration laws contain no provision allowing the government to alter welfare entitlements for those granted indefinite leave to remain.
Defending the proposed policy, Badenoch maintained that extending the qualifying period from five to 10 years would not amount to a retrospective change because temporary work visas do not guarantee permanent settlement.
“The government is perfectly entitled to decide at any time the rules on indefinite rights of settlement, including in relation to those here already.
“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 wrote.
“If you table the proposals set out last autumn in undiluted form, either in the Immigration Rules or as part of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, we will support them.
“In government we would of course go further, but on this time-sensitive matter we make this offer to cooperate in the national interest,” she stated.
“Whether or not you stand by your own proposals is a test of whether the Labour Party is serious about controlling our borders, or not,” the letter concluded.
The letter was also copied to Andy Burnham, whom Badenoch referred to as the anticipated incoming Prime Minister, amid ongoing political debate over the future of the UK’s immigration policy.
