Proposed ILR Rules – The Unfair Impact on Working Mothers and the Need for a Full Maternity Exemption

[Zinary]

I am writing this with a newborn in my arms, and my heart is completely breaking.
Instead of being allowed to heal, rest, and soak in the pure joy of my baby, I am sitting here crying, terrified, and questioning if I made the right choice to have a child. How can a mother be driven to question her greatest gift, her absolute world, all because of a cruel change to immigration law?
On 2 November, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the finalized "Earned Settlement" rules. To get Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the standard 5 years, you now must earn over £50,271 a year.
But the absolute malice is in the fine print: you must meet that £50,271 threshold in three out of the last five years before you apply.
The Home Office is actively spinning this "3 out of 5 years" rule as a generous maternity "buffer." They are telling the public it gives women two years of leeway to have a baby.
Let me tell you why that math is a blatant, calculated lie for real women:

1. The Starting Trap: Many of us spent our first two years in the UK working up from entry-level salaries, earning below that £50k mark. Our two "buffer years" are ALREADY GONE. We have zero margin for error left.
2. The Maternity Penalty: Pregnancy is nine months of physical toll, followed by maternity leave and statutory pay dips. If your annual P60 earnings drop below £50,271 because you lose out on bonuses, commission, or overtime while caring for your baby, your year doesn't count. The clock resets.
3. The Multi-Child Ban: If you want to have two children within five years, it is mathematically impossible to hit that threshold for three consecutive years.

If the math fails you because you chose to have a baby, you are forced onto the 10-year path. The punishment? Paying thousands of pounds more in upfront Immigration Health Surcharges (IHS) and visa extensions just to keep your home. For a family, we are talking about an extra £35,000+ extracted by the Home Office. This is evil. It is a pay-to-settle hierarchy that penalizes the female body and treats human lives like a spreadsheet. The right to live and build a family must NEVER be a hard choice. The Home Office is laying these rules before Parliament next month (December) to take effect in 2027. We have a tiny, critical window to fight this. I am calling on every mother, every ally, and anyone who believes that a woman shouldn't be penalized for having a child to help us.

• If you are an immigration lawyer: How do we launch a class-action challenge against this under the Equality Act?
• If you have links to journalists or MPs: Please help us get this cruel math into the mainstream media. Backbench Labour MPs forced a U-turn on care workers last week—we can force a U-turn on mothers if we make enough noise.
• If you are a British citizen: Will you write to your MP on behalf of your migrant friends and colleagues who have no voice in the ballot box?

Please bump this, share this, and tell me what we can do. I refuse to let a spreadsheet dictate whether it was a "mistake" to hold my beautiful baby.

This is the natural consequence of an increasingly hostile attitude to immigrants. I'm sorry this is impacting you, but I doubt anything is going to change as a lot of people want residency off the table.

Something can be done. We need people and Groups like Maternity Action to voice this outrageous situation. Giving up is not an option. @FallBreeze reshare post, keep the hope alive

Stop just stop,this country is on the brink of civil war!

You have to understand it as two frames of reference

First you have the idea that a nation should prioritize the people already there, at the expense of new arrivals or future arrivals. This results in an immigration system that prioritizes higher earners and punishes lower earners. This makes sense in a nationalistic perspective (I'm not saying this is entirely wrong) because it prioritizes those who would be most beneficial to the people already in the country.

However, it conflicts with our general domestic attitudes, that laws, regulations and taxation should skew in favor of those struggling and in need of help. E.g. progressive taxation that taxes the poor less, more benefits from the poor.

The difference in opinion that you are having OP is that you are viewing the issue through the general domestic lens, and correctly saying "hold on, this doesn't make sense! why are we making those in need, poorer, new mothers, suffer and pay more!"

Whereas those supporting it, separate this entirely from domestic policy and view the two as distinct. E.g. the U.K. has a moral responsibility to help its own people, but not "others".

I'm not here to say what is right, I'm just trying to explain how others can justify something as fair, and yet why it seems fundamentally unfair to you. And how both of those positions exist.

I don’t think coming to the UK, working a lower paid entry level job and then having a baby soon after is going to gain you lots of sympathy.

Once you have a child you then use so much more of the UK state system, not least the funded childcare hours that people have fought for for years, and the free healthcare/ birth. Really it’s reasonable to prove you have contributed before that.

Should the statutory element of maternity pay be available for someone who has only been in the country for 2 years before birth?
I think a lot of people would think no.

This is of no concern to me.

People will need to take the new regulations into account and wait (like many people have to do) to have a baby.

Congratulations on your baby, but it isn't exactly breaking news that parenthood is not cost-free.

Op i have read your post a couple of times and have numerous questions. These are done dispationately and I am playing devil's advocate here.

Firstly, if you have 2 children in 5 years, you are not contributing to the British economy for a considerable period of those 5 years. Therefore, why would Britain want you in the uk using resources like health care, etc. Whilst I appreciate you may well be paying for that, its still an impact on the NHS. However, simply living in a home impacts the housing supply and if your contribution to the economy is negligible, why would the UK or any country want you to stay?

If things are so difficult here why not return to your country of origin, for some of course this is impossible but is it so in yours? Much of the immigration we have seen over the last 25 yeaes has been for purely economic reasons.

Immigration is a very hot topic. Therefore any government has to be seen doing something about it. In fact she has watered down the proposals to the annoyance of many who want a limit on Immigration. What is your view on that?

Yours is a very emotive post but very detailed and I understand why you may feel the way you do. But is there a specific reason why you have used the language you have. Words like evil, pregnancy is physically toil, etc. Rather than sticking to the facts?

🍿

@Arbourimage I have spent at least 10,000pounds on IHS which covers for my health care. I have not taken a penny from the government as free assistance. Everything is paid for. Mind you the 10000 excludes visa visa fees.
To be clear when I came in the threshold was 25,000 and I earned over 36,000 so kindly watch your words carefully.

How many people earned above 50k in 2022?? Please tell me

Are you suporting a system that tell me women to hold on for five years before having kids? Where is your humanity?

@NotAnotherScarf Thank you for your questions. I welcome a dispassionate look at the facts, because when you actually look at the data and the economics of the visa system, the "devil's advocate" argument completely falls apart.
Here are the facts:
1. On "Negligible Contribution" and NHS Impact
You mention the impact on the NHS and resources. To be absolutely clear, I have paid over £10,000 upfront in Immigration Health Surcharges (IHS) alone to cover my healthcare. This is completely separate from my visa application fees.
Furthermore, I pay full UK income tax and National Insurance on every penny I earn, alongside Council Tax and VAT. I am legally barred from accessing public funds—I have not taken a single penny of government assistance, benefits, or social housing. Migrants on Skilled Worker visas are net contributors to the state from day one; we pay for the NHS twice (once via the IHS, and again via general taxation).
2. On the Threshold and the Reality of 2022
You ask why the UK would want someone who doesn't meet the new criteria. When I moved my life to the UK, the legal threshold set by the government was £25,000. I exceeded this significantly, earning over £36,000. I met every rule the UK asked of me. Changing the goalposts retrospectively is not "doing something about immigration"—it is a breach of trust for people who moved here in good faith.
To look at the data objectively: how many people in the UK actually earned over £50,000 in 2022?According to ONS income percentile data, earning £50,000 places an individual in the top 15–20% of all earners in the UK. Expecting a migrant worker in their first few years of a career to be in the top fifth of the national economy—while also penalizing them for taking statutory maternity leave—is a mathematical trap, not a baseline for standard economic contribution.
3. On the Use of Language and "Humanity"
You asked why I used emotive language like "physical toil" and "evil." I use "physical toil" because pregnancy and postpartum recovery are biological realities. I use "evil" because a system that structurally pressures women to delay or avoid having children for five consecutive years to satisfy a spreadsheet has lost its humanity.
The right to build a family and live in security should never be a luxury reserved only for the top 15% of earners. This isn't just about numbers; it's about whether we support a system that targets the female body as an economic liability.

PS. I don’t have access to any benefits I have literally paid standard rent since I moved here, no discounts full rent with deposit. So what exactly have I done wrong?

10,000 does not cover the cost of your maternity care, birth and subsequent healthcare of your baby.

Are you suporting a system that tell me women to hold on for five years before having kids? Where is your humanity?

I really don’t think it’s inhumane to suggest a woman should wait until she is financially secure, in your case after dealing with your immigration status, inhumane.

Your post is very emotional and hyperbolic.

It’s reasonable to expect that people coming into the country must take financial planning into account before having kids.

Many people wait for various things before having children, that’s completely normal.

I suspect you will have very little support for your ‘plight’.

I’m very pro immigration but your post comes across as immature and entitled, it’s not going to come across well to the people who aren’t so keen on immigration. It sort of feeds into the rhetoric of coming here because it’s more generous than other countries.

I think this is unfair. My DDIL is here on a spousal visa. She came (from the USA) legally, not for economic reasons but because she fell in love with, and married, an Englishman. The increased waiting time for ILR will mean that she will have to renew her visa every two and a half years. This, including the health surcharge, costs in excess of £4000 each time. It's a heck of a burden on a young couple, who both work, but don't earn enough to qualify for the five year rule.

Overall cost of pregnancy and birth costs the NHS around £5k-7k. That's assuming rrlatively straightforward. So if you had another child then the 10k barely covers it.
I am not advocating for this change by the way but ultimately what I am very clear about is that the cost of providing the sort of health, education and benefits that we want to provide in this country comes at a cost. If you earn 50k and have a child and take the various benefits (state education, NHS and child benefit) you are likely to be a net recipient rather than net contributor to the tax coffers.
So to be brutally honest if we have more people in this country earning less than 50k with kids then this needs to be paid for somehow. Now we can argue who should pay and there are plenty of good arguments to say that wealthy people pay more and it's good to have increasing population of younger people etc etc. I am not against these arguments at all .. but picking one issue in isolation does not really make sense. You need to look at it in the round. We ultimately cannot afford to do all the same things we do today unless something changes to increase the amount of tax receipts or reduce the amount paid out by the state.

This was first announced in May 2025 but has been introduced with more exemptions. Did you respond to the consultation in November 2025?

If it was going to have such an impact, you could have chosen to delay having your baby until you’d met the 3 year requirement, particularly when you could have watched the news or engaged in the consultation and seen what was coming down the line.

I don’t think there’s much appetite in the country for improving the system for immigrants
Many people seem to think the Home Secretary did not go far enough

I’m English and have lived in other countries and as much as it sucks, I have to abide by their immigration rules (whether I agree with them or not).
I don’t think a woman should be penalised for having a child, but I also don’t think it’s inhumane. I am sure you’d get a raw-er deal in another country if i’m honest.

Are you suporting a system that tell me women to hold on for five years before having kids? Where is your humanity?

Yes, having children is a privilege not a right.

You are talking about economic migrants - it is a choice to be here.

Many of my friends can't afford a child/ second child- that is life.

Also a government can change the laws whenever they like. I get how it must feel (having been on the receiving end in a different country), but you have to accept it sadly.

NHS surcharge is £1,035 a year. An absolute pittance! 2 pregnancies, even complications, will cost much more than that.

Are you suporting a system that tell me women to hold on for five years before having kids? Where is your humanity?
Humanity! Because you might make the choice to wait to have children? Many British couple wait longer than this because they can't afford to have children long in their 30s or even 40s, many stop at one because they can't afford two.

What do you think makes you special?

approximately 5.4 million UK taxpayers (about 16% of all income taxpayers)

@lxn889121 The Whole proposal is largely unfair. Thank you for your contribution

Presumably if there was a total maternity exemption there would be a risk some people would have more children
Cant see the Government encouraging that

It's unfair to you and the very few that fall under the same category. It is fair to millions of Brits who are struggling, or those who would love to come and live here but can't get a job over the threshold.