Badenoch calls for doubling of time before foreign workers can settle in UK

Foreign workers will have to live in the UK for 10 years without claiming any kind of benefit before being allowed indefinite leave to remain under plans announced by the Conservatives on Wednesday.

Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, said she would push for changes to the government’s immigration bill to double the length of time it takes to qualify for settled status, as part of her party’s latest promise to crack down on immigration.

The plans would make workers wait for much longer before being allowed to settle in the UK, and would bar refugees from most parts of the world from ever being allowed to.

Other conditions would be applicants having to show they had never claimed social housing, had no criminal record and would be a “net contributor” to the UK economy.

Most work visas come with a “no recourse to public funds” condition, preventing people with those visas from claiming benefits or using social housing, and in many cases a criminal record would delay or prevent someone receiving indefinite leave to remain.

Badenoch said: “Our country is not a dormitory, it’s our home. The right to citizenship and permanent residency should only go to those who have demonstrated a real commitment to the UK.

“That’s why we should double the length of time before people can qualify for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years.”

She added: “The Conservative party is under new leadership. We’re going to tell the hard truths about immigration.

“The pace of immigration has been too quick and the numbers coming too high for meaningful integration. We need to slow down the track for citizenship.”

Under current rules, workers and refugees who have been in the UK for five years can apply for indefinite leave to remain, which allows them to stay in the country but does not grant full citizenship. This indefinite leave to remain allows people to claim benefits for the first time, though they must wait a further year before applying for citizenship.

The Tories are proposing extending that period to 10 years, and disqualifying anyone who has claimed benefits or lived in social housing during that period. They will also have to contribute more in taxes than they and their dependents collectively receive in public services or welfare.

Once a person has been granted settled status, they will then be made to wait for a further five years before being allowed to apply for full citizenship.

People entering illegally – which includes those seeking asylum from almost everywhere in the world – would be barred from ever claiming settled status.

Only those who have sought asylum from “safe and legal routes” – mainly from Afghanistan, Hong Kong or Ukraine – will be allowed to seek indefinite leave to remain.

The Conservatives have said they will introduce a cap on net migration, though have not yet said where that will be set.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Recent numbers have been far too high. That’s why we will introduce a binding annual cap on visa numbers, at far lower levels.”

The Tories oversaw record levels of net migration while in office, something many senior members of the party believe was largely responsible for their election loss last year.

Badenoch said in a speech last year: “During the last Conservative administration, we promised to bring numbers down. We did not deliver that promise. We ended free movement but the system that replaced it is not working.”

Since coming to power, Labour has scrapped the previous government’s plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Labour has introduced its own borders and immigration bill, which would give police forces greater power to take action against gangs of people smugglers.

Both Labour and the Tories have been alarmed by the recent rise in support for the anti-immigration Reform UK. A poll by YouGov this week gave Nigel Farage’s party a national lead for the first time in any major survey.