Families of nurses and carers have said they fear being torn apart under an immigration crackdown condemned as “an act of economic vandalism”.
A survey of more than 1,000 people, many of whom moved to Britain to work or study, found that three in five worry about being separated from their relatives.
Two-thirds said they felt less welcome in the UK as a result of Shabana Mahmood’s proposals, according to the charity Praxis. More than half said they were less likely to remain in the UK.
The home secretary is facing opposition from Labour MPs over an overhaul of immigration rules that has been seen as an attempt to combat the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Ministers want to double the time it takes most migrant workers to qualify for permanent residence, from five years to 10. For people in jobs below graduate level – including many care workers – the default will be extended to 15 years.
In a Praxis survey of 1,072 people likely to be affected by the changes, nearly half were on work visas, with one in three working in health and social care, one in 10 in education, and 15% in IT.
One in seven were on family visas, and 12% were Hongkongers who moved to Britain after the imposition of China’s national security law in Hong Kong in 2020.
Minnie Rahman, the chief executive of Praxis, said: “Our findings highlight that these proposals are yet another act of economic vandalism from our government.
“We all know migrants bring vital skills and experience to crucial sectors of our economy – almost half of those who took part in our survey work in critical sectors like the NHS, social care and IT. The government needs to stop penalising migrant communities and start reflecting that reality.”
More than 300,000 children already living in the UK could be forced to wait 10 years for settled status under the changes, according to research published this week by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Nursing leaders have said as many as 50,000 nurses could leave the UK over the plans, plunging the NHS into its biggest ever workforce crisis.
Zayne, an 18-year-old aspiring doctor who responded to the Praxis survey, said his mother “cries every day because our whole future feels like it’s been pulled away overnight”.
He said: “My dad is an NHS doctor and chose to work in the UK because he believed in the rules and the promise of stability. He gave up better-paid work abroad, sold our house and car and spent thousands doing everything right, only to be told, a month before we qualify, that the rules have changed.”
The IPPR estimates that as many as 1.7 million people were in the UK on a route to settlement at the end of last year and could now be forced to wait a further five years to get indefinite leave to remain. A 10-year route to settlement currently costs almost £20,000 per adult, according to Praxis.
Fisayo, a healthcare worker, said she moved to the UK in 2009 as a highly skilled worker and had paid tax, raised her children and contributed to the economy, but that “instability has pushed us towards poverty”.
She said: “I’m stuck in low-paid work, renewing my status every 30 months, and in the past I’ve had to rely on food banks to feed my family so I can afford our Home Office visa fees. I ask myself every day: what was my crime?
“These policies don’t just punish parents – they trap children in insecurity and hardship. This is how child poverty is created.”
About 40 Labour MPs have raised concerns about the impact of the proposals on migrants already living in the UK, describing the retrospective approach as “un-British” and “moving the goalposts”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary has set out her plans for the biggest legal migration reforms in 50 years. It is a privilege not a right to settle in the UK and it must be earned. We are reforming a broken immigration system to prioritise contribution and integration.
“We inherited an asylum system under exceptional pressure and we make no apologies for taking the necessary and immediate action to restore order.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
