Farage promises to deport people with ILR

[Acidburn]

Posting in AIBU for traffic.
Nigel Farage stated he would deport anyone with existing indefinite leave to remain. We are talking about millions of people.
This terrifying. If people live here, work here, have kids and mortgages - where are they supposed to go?

Disgusting, and terrifying. The country I've lived in for over a decade (having moved all my savings across, high-rate tax payer, kids born here, mortgage) apparently sees me as an 'outsider' who should not be allowed to stay indefinitely or claim benefits.

The UK is my home and I'm highly offended that a politician believes I do not belong here, and from comments in the Daily Mail, there are quite a few people who agree with him -- potentially a majority.

Yes, I could apply for citizenship, which would cost anywhere between* *£1,935 to over £4,100 but frankly, I'm not sure I'd want to become a citizen in a country that clearly doesn't value me or people like me.

Why do we need a new word - populist - for democracy?

For those banging on about contributors vs non-contributors...presumably you do know that anyone can suddenly become a nom-contributor after years of paying in to the system. We need to stop framing this as "deserving migrants" and "non-desrrving migrants" because life isn't that binary.

What we need to ask ourselves is whether those with the skills and abilities to be net contributors will really want to build their lives in a country which will turf them out on their arses if they they go through a bad patch. And what will be the impact on the UK if they choose to take their skills and their contributions to another country instead.

ILR biometric permits have an expiration date anyway and have to be renewed every 10 years or so. It costs around 2k (last time I checked) to reapply for a new BRP. I think it was actually cheaper to just apply for citizenship rather than renew your ILR every 10 years. So really the current government is already shafting ILR migrants as it is but nobody complains about that. The system needs an overhaul anyways

The irony here is that your reaction is exactly what he wants.

This thread will be full of the usual, diametrically opposed opinions with no real discussion, just people shouting at each other. Bad publicity is still publicity in Reform's eyes.

I mean I don’t see how it could ever actually happen.
He’s insane and I don’t think anyone should take what he says as any kind of fact!!

I am a British citizen and so are my children.

We don't live in the UK for two reasons. Reason 1 is that the UK doesn't respect our family life enough for us to be confident that my husband and my children's father wouldn't be deported at a moment's notice. And reason 2 is that the UK simply isn't doing very well at the moment and isn't an attractive place to live. As long as people like Nigel Farage are allowed to dictate the political agenda, that isn't going to change. So obviously people with better options - like us - will vote with their feet.

Bye bye! We are going. Dh is highly skilled British citizen and I am eu sham. Dc are dual citizens. We are going to eu country. Dc need to learn a new language but then they get free university education. Health system is better too. Dc can come to uk later on if they wish with their uk passports

Learning English to a decent standard should be the minimum requirement to get ILR. Some immigrants live in areas full of immigrants from their own country, never attempt to learn any English even if they have lived here for 20 years.

If you want to become a citizen, what’s the problem with paying for the privilege? Why complain about the cost - if this is home, don’t you regard that as money well spent?

I agree it would take years probably but the main problem with this is that once again here he is legitimising racism, that's what we need to worry about

I honest to God don't think it is a majority, especially among those people who actually understand what it means for our society and services to deport legal working migrants with ILR.

Farage is a performance politician.

Edited because I hit post too soon.

If I could I'd be out of here.

Sorry.

Are you seriously suggesting Reform will round up all the Jews and gays and we’ll have concentration camps in Wales? Really?? I don't remember the Nazis deporting them to safety…

Yes, I suppose I'll have to, but I deeply resent being made to do it. At least I'll be able to vote then.

This is the big point. Under this proposal you may have people who formerly had ILR and worked and paid tax and NI for years. If they need to reapply every 5 years what happens if life circumstances change? They get made redundant or a spouse passes away, or they have disabled children or get ill. Are we supposed to then fail to renew their new 5 year visa and kick them out? They've paid into the system.

Someone upthread questioned why they should get pensions - again they may have been here years and paid into the system. Of course they should then be able to retire here and get pensions.

It's just mad as policy and totally unworkable.

I think I may be the only recent immigrant on this thread. Maybe even on MN. I got my ILR in August. I am part of the dreaded Boriswave.

I have always been told that British people have no problem with legal immigrants. So I followed the rules, got my employer to pay for expensive visas, moved my son, and paid my hefty NHS surcharge for a service I have never used.

Now some people seem to have an issue with legal migrants too. The goalposts have not just been shifted. They have been shattered.

But my partner is British, my kids are, they are in school here, I have a home and a mortgage and a job here. It's not really an option for me to go back to where I'm from without majorly disrupting my kids' and partner's life and end up penniless and homeless. It would be an option if we as a family decided to move to my country of origin, not if I/we're being forced to.

Don't be so silly. Take a look at what lead up to Hitlers rise to power. Sanctions, poverty, perceived injustice, propaganda , fear somebody who " tells it as it is", racism.

Ring any bells?

Here are UC statistics directly from the government.

In June 2025, 9.7% of people on UC were in the “EU Settlement Scheme” group. 2.7% of people on UC were in the “Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme)” group. 1.5% of people on UC were in the “Refugee” group. 1.0% of people on UC were in the “Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including family reunion” group. 0.7% of people on UC were in the “Humanitarian” group. 0.4% of people on UC were in the “Other” group

So even if you remove every single person with ILR, but not Settled Status (as Reform say they won't), you are in fact losing 2.7% of your UC bill at most. But then... 32% of this 2.7% are employed.

These threads are always full of people complaining that people aren't reading what Reform is actually saying but often without checking the statistics they are offering up themselves.

@charliehungerford your stats could relate to the number of people currently living in London who are first generation immigrants going back decades. Of new social housing lettings from 23-24, 76% were of White British ethnicity, and 81.6% overall were White, with White other making up 5%. New tenancies are broadly in line with the ethnic make up of the UK as a whole. In terms of nationality, 9% of new tenancies went to people from outside the EU, including 0.6% from Ukraine and 0.4% from Afghanistan. This is higher than the non-EU proportion of the UK population which is 3% and has doubled in the past three years. 87% of new tenants are UK nationals, slightly lower than the 91% percent of the population they comprise.

Overall a third of new lead tenants are in work, followed by carers, people unable to work through sickness, and pensioners. Only 13% are counted as unemployed and seeking work.

Social housing lettings in England, tenants: April 2023 to March 2024 - GOV.UK

I think so. I just paid a lot for similar o/s. It’s expensive but I feel pretty lucky to have the option and paid, did the many forms.

Between the threats of this policy and the current Labour government's tax plans that are driving highly skilled people out of the City and out of the UK, we should be in good shape by 2029 (not).

Gordon Bennett, what a time to be alive.

I have been a British citizen for 13 years and yes for the first time ever I am worried someone could take it away from me.

If you don’t have confidence your husband wouldn't be deported at a moment's notice, perhaps that’s best for everyone.

I am a citizen now, but before that my rights were guaranteed under the withdrawal agreement. I would be better protected here if I became unable to work than I would be in the UK.

Even if I didn't have citizenship or the benefit of the withdrawal agreement, for example, if I had come from a non EU country in the first place, the country I live in actually respects people's right to a family life. If you are the spouse or parent of a citizen, you would basically have to get convicted of a serious crime to be at any risk of being asked to leave.

There’s just too many of us.