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?

Yup..I am a citizen. Well, actually I have dual citizenship of the UK and an EU country

I applied for my British citizenship after brexit because I was worried about exactly this scenario. I didn't want to have to potentially uproot my British husband and dc if I got kicked out after having lived here for more than 20 years.

So I won't be affected by this particular policy but as I said in my previous post all this rhetoric is shifting British politics to the right and normalising racism and xenophobia. And who knows what's coming next? Different rules for British born and naturalised citizens? My kids being treated as second class citizens as society turns even more racist? And how much more shit do you think can the economy afford to be? And it will be more shit if the uk continues to become more and more unattractive to immigrants. Whatever moral reasons there may be to reject racism and xenophobia I think it's pretty undisputed that immigration is good for the economy. Well actually immigration is necessary for a thriving economy.

So dh and me are actually planning our exit. It's a pity. As I said I have been here for 2 decades and the uk has become home. But once your home becomes abusive you have to leave. At least while you still can leave.

And for those of you who are shaking your head about comparisons to the third reich: you obviously don't have a good grasp of history.

Sounds like a Leopards Ate My Face moment might be coming. He might want to glance across the Atlantic to see how it’s working for the folks over there. “I didn’t think he meant me!”

Its all ridiculous, when he eventually kicks me out i would like my tax back that i paid for the last 22 years

Perhaps this is just a way for Farage to get rid of his German wife, from whom he is estranged. 😆

He's full of shit and he knows it! He's going to have to cancel vast amounts of benefit claims and get many many millions back in work and that's just for the low skilled jobs! We've got a recruitment crisis now and shortage of care workforce as it is.

Don't forget the election petition has failed spectacularly, it didn't even scrape a million signatures! He's not going to get many votes if barely anyone has signed that petition.

He's ran away from running for PM before, he ran away from Brexit and leading UKIP! He has no intention of being in charge of anything and only 900k votes of 70 million people won't get him a win. He just likes standing on the sidelines sniping!

I don’t know.

I know one doctor currently working as a carer until she can fulfil the requirements to practise medicine here. Unlikely she’d be earning enough as a care home carer.

Well obviously that was a lot of old bollocks wasn’t it. The Tories only went on about asylum seeker figures to deflect from their Boriswave. Reform didn’t say they liked either, and have been consistent about that since before the last election.

Asylum seekers actually have strong protection under human rights law and international conventions. People with ILR and visas are subject to the prejudice of the government of the day. It’s a domestic matter, which is much easier to change legally. They have nothing like as good protection, as they are finding out.

My situation is very similar. We (you and I) can just pay the money, take the test, and claim citizenship though can't we. I imagine most people with ILR can

Surely the priority should be deporting ‘undesirables’. And I have no shame in using that word. Some people really are undesirable - and that includes plenty of British people! Some of those louts who move to Spain, refuse to learn Spanish, fight and urinate in the street, and fly Union jacks outside their homes, don’t exactly enrich Spanish culture. I wouldn’t blame the Spanish for deporting them.

If I was a member of the Reform government, I would draw up a list for deportation, with those I most wanted to deport at the top. A list in descending order would look something like this:

1. Illegal immigrants who have committed multiple serious crimes (rape, violence, house burglary, etc).
2. Illegal immigrants convicted of just one serious crime or a series of petty crimes.
3. Illegal immigrants who have never been convicted of a crime but have lived on welfare.
4. Illegal immigrants who have not committed a crime or claimed welfare but who have no skills or training or education and cannot speak English very well.
5. Legal immigrants who have been convicted of a series of serious crimes (rape, robbery with violence etc).
6. Legal immigrants who have committed petty crimes.
7. Legal immigrants who have committed no crimes but who live on welfare

…and so on, and so on.

My priority would be deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes. The further down the list you go, the more sympathetic I would be. Obviously someone who came here legally and had worked and obeyed the law would be perfectly safe. But an illegal immigrant isn’t a hero. He is a criminal. I liked Australia and wanted to stay there. But I couldn’t. If I had sneaked back in, I’d have expected them to deport me. I wouldn’t scream and shout and accuse the Australians of persecuting me. It is insane that we even need to debate this. The clue is in the word ‘illegal’.

The left have so much influence and control over the U.K. that people seem to think it’s immoral to deport a young man who comes here illegally and then lives by crime or benefit fraud. I have seen people described as ‘far-right’ for wanting a rapist deported!! It’s insane.

Don’t worry though. Even if Reform do take power (which they won’t), the establishment will block and frustrate any efforts to deport people. It just won’t happen. Sleep easy in your beds. People who come here illegally and rape and steal and deal drugs and cheat the welfare system are quite safe.

Yeah, he does, but as a PP put it, when your home becomes abusive you need to leave.
We would go to his Mediterranean country. I speak the language ( badly at the moment) but could improve, and my young adult kids would probably at some point want to join. Ironically I would probably find it easier to find work than he would over there.

So true, my lovely dentist went back to Poland, she was so skilled and kind ( I am terrified of dentists), and I still miss her

Farage is not stupid; he's a power-hungry jackal (and a jackass too), capitalizing on the far-right sentiment happening across the world. He uses immigrants as a scapegoat to mask the failings of the UK government and grab the power

I seriously cannot believe what is going on. The hatred out there is palpable

My friends who came her to help their sick child ( and worked obviously) went back. A sad loss.

someone said that Nigel said 1 in 6 UC claimants were non citizens this was quoted from gov.uk as if to disprove

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

actually if you add these up it amounts to 16% which is actually 1 in 6

so 1 in 6 is accurate

I do think instead of being polarised at IRL should be cancelled to we need every immigrant there is a middle reasonable ground

the largest category of people given IRL are wives and husbands , the largest countries of origin being India and pakistan by a very large margin

according to UK gov figues for 2023-2024 of the 678,000 given IRL, 383000 were wives husbands and children from India and pakistan, 182000 were workers ( both high value and just workers) the remaining 113000 were workers from others places wives and children from other places eg USA and China

I do not think it would be unreasonable to make English speaking and understanding to a level to not need a translator and to undergo normal business within 2 years to be a requirement for VISA renewal,( for all those under state pension age) classes should be provided free with attendance mandatory ( childcare provided on site at the same time bit like a playgroup), within these classes education regarding standard British values and laws should also be taught so it provides both language skills and negotiating society and legal norms at the same time. it doesn't need to be at the level required to be a doctor but good enough to understand your child's teacher, talking to a bank clerk and GP the dentist standard interactions with police etc Most Western European countries already have this requirement. I think no benefits for 5 years is also reasonable and something like the current annual payment to use NHS

Problem is many people are politically ignorant and will latch onto whatever he says and treat it as gospel. In their minds a lot will probably think deportations equates to better jobs and increased housing for them. And with high profile people like Trump backing him, that will validate their choice in their head that he’s a good choice.

I think your interpretation of the figures is incorrect, as you are assuming his savings figures come from existing individuals with ILR. The £400bn figure which Reform quoted as saving from this scheme relates to long term savings for the future 800,000 (potentially as many as 1.2 mn) people who are due to be eligible for ILR in the next couple of years.

Current savings for the 2.7% of claimants (approx 200,000 people) with ILR would be a couple of billion per year (just on their UC costs, disregarding other direct or indirect benefits); add in the potential of another million people every year, and then factor in long term health, education and other costs, and the figures don't look so outrageous.

If you have British citizenship you would have nothing to worry about, even if Reform did get elected in a few years time.

The earnings threshold for ILR is just fucking hilarious. It would mean that those with bullshit jobs, like senior strategy consultant or brand manager could stay, but actually useful people like firefighters, teachers, scientists would have to leave.
Like a direct reversal of the Hitchhikers guide premise. Utter batshit.

Sigh.
Legal immigrants ALREADY can't access benefits until they get their ILR which takes 5 years.
We pay an NHS surcharge.
I did an IELTS test because the UK thinks I come from a non English speaking country.
I passed a Life in the UK test.

All these restrictions already exist. People seem to think new immigrants just walked over.

I absolutely love legal immigrants. Not a fan of criminals though.

I've always considered applying for citizenship at some point, and I might well be forced to, but despite being a 'higher earner' with some savings, and the main breadwinner, ~£3,000 is still a pretty steep cost.

I financially support a dependent on my husband's side who is in university (uk-born, for what it's worth), and with the cost of living crisis and general state of the economy, I'd rather keep it as a buffer. Plus, I'm actually saddened and offended that after all these years here, I'm still not considered 'one of us'. I'd be happy to do a language test, as I do agree that it should be a requirement for people living here to speak the language on at least a basic level.

Realistically, should this come to pass, I expect Scotland to vote for independence and rejoin the EU (and I live in Scotland).

I’ve already answered. Do you use ‘deportation’ when a holiday visa runs out?

Well yes. If they are forced to leave. Of course

I agree, I made the mistake of laughing at Trump when he initially ran for president and he is now unstoppable and as far from funny as an incurable disease. I also thought or hoped that this country would never allow Farage anywhere near power, after all it took him 7 attempts to get into parliament, now look where we are, he is on course to get to No 10 unless something radical and dramatic happens or things really improve for people here and he will lose traction for all his whinging and hate. I still do laught ironially at the thought of Richard Tice Reform MP for Skegness spending most of his time in Dubai! I mean, how gullible are people to think that Reform is on the side of ordinary people.

Happy enough to remove IRL though

It's never gonna happen. I wouldn't worry.