Friday, November 21, 2025 - Migrants could be stripped of access to benefits unless they become British citizens under radical new Home Office plans announced today, November 20.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the government
will launch a consultation examining whether welfare support should be limited
to full citizens only, ending the automatic eligibility currently granted when
foreign nationals obtain settled status.
Setting out the proposals in the Commons, she said
settlement in Britain “is not a right but a privilege, and it must be earned”,
warning that years of record migration had “placed immense pressure on local
communities”.
Mahmood said the consultation “raises the question of the
rights that will be provided,” and “proposes that benefits might not be
available to those who have settled status, reserving them instead for those
who have earned British citizenship.”
The plan forms part of what she described as the toughest
reform of the settlement system in nearly five decades. She accused the
previous Conservative administration of running an “open border experiment”
that saw more than 2.6 million arrivals since 2021.
Referring to what she called the “Boris wave”, she told MPs
that minimum salary rules were “drastically lifted,” and claimed that a
programme designed to fill “as few as 6,000 care-sector posts ended up
admitting 616,000 people.” She added: “Over half were not even filling jobs in
the sector at all, but were rather dependants of those who were.”
Under the government’s blueprint, the minimum wait for
settlement will rise from five to 10 years. Applicants will also be assessed on
English proficiency, National Insurance contributions, criminal records and
debt.
Only those who exceed key criteria, such as high
taxpayers, global talent applicants and essential public service workers, will
be eligible for a shorter route. At the same time, anyone who has relied on the
welfare system will face steeper penalties.
Migrants who have claimed benefits for less than 12 months
will face a mandatory 15-year wait for settlement, while those who have claimed
for more than a year could wait up to 20 years. Illegal entrants may face
delays of up to 30 years, even if they later regularise their status.
Lower-skilled workers who entered under the post-Brexit
health and care visa rules are also set to face a baseline 15-year wait, a
shift that would significantly lengthen the path to settlement for many already
living in the UK.
Crucially, Mahmood confirmed that the new rules will apply
retrospectively to anyone in the UK who has not yet secured indefinite leave to
remain. She emphasized, however, that “nothing will change for those who
already hold settled status.”
Defending the reforms, she said: “For those who believe
migration is part of modern Britain’s story and should always continue to be,
we must prove that it can still work. That those who come here contribute, play
their part and enrich our national life. While each will always retain
something of who they were and where they came from, they become a part of the
greatest multi-ethnic, multi-faith democracy in the world.”
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