Scrapping Migrant Residency Delays to Cost UK Homes £1,000 Each
British households could face costs exceeding £1,000 each if the government drops plans to extend the permanent residency waiting period for 1.6 million post-2021 foreign workers, new analysis shows.
As Ed Griffiths reports in GB News, approximately 1.6 million foreign workers arrived in Britain between 2021 and 2024 under what has become known as the “Boriswave” — a reference to the dramatic visa reforms enacted during Johnson’s tenure as Prime Minister.
In response to the population surge, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has proposed doubling the qualifying period for permanent settled status from five years to ten. The policy, which Mahmood says draws inspiration from Denmark, would also apply retroactively to migrants who arrived in the UK from 2021 onwards.
However, the proposals now face significant internal opposition within the Labour Party. More than 100 MPs, including former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, have signed a letter opposing the extended residency requirements. Rayner has gone so far as to characterise the plans as “un-British”.
Incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham is also understood to hold a softer position on immigration policy. Last year, he criticised the extended waiting period proposals, arguing they would leave migrants in a sense of limbo and unable to integrate.
Reform UK, which has previously demanded a national inquiry into the “Boriswave” migration surge, has calculated the cost implications of allowing the 1.6 million arrivals to remain on the current five-year pathway to permanent settlement.
The mounting pressure from Labour’s own benches threatens to derail Mahmood’s attempts to address public concern over immigration levels and the fiscal impact of rapid population growth driven by post-2021 visa policy changes.
With information from GB News
