The United Kingdom Labour government has announced sweeping new immigration measures that could reshape the path to permanent residency.
Interior Minister, Shabana Mahmood told the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool that migrants seeking indefinite leave to remain must now meet tougher conditions, including holding a job, paying social security, avoiding benefits, maintaining a clean record, and doing community service.
Previously, migrants qualified after five or 10 years of legal stay depending on their visa type. The new rules are designed, Mahmood said, to reassure voters that Labour can “control borders” without conceding ground to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party, which is leading opinion polls with its anti-immigrant agenda.
Critics argue the policies unfairly target hardworking migrants, including Nigerians, who form the UK’s second-largest non-European immigrant group.
