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.

I’ll ask again then, how are you expecting to fund childcare in order to allow you to return to work after your mat leave?

People think the UK is a free hotel for the world. It is atm, but can't afford to be forever.

This. When I was dating one of the criteria was “are our future living arrangements compatible” and if the answer was no then it was a sad end to the relationship.

You have autonomy in these situations unless you are very very desperate and can’t find another man 😂.

It is not just the UK tightening rules though, it is Europe wide? It is because European countries aren’t as rich as they used to be and the Government is spending close to 18k per person. So that is what you need to contribute in taxes for every person in your household to be paying your way. So I think it is no longer about human rights, but tightening the financials for the country long term and keeping its citizens safe, long term. And it will get even worse due to an ageing population. It is sad, but I think it reflects economic reality. And at the same time they also do need to think about babies being born in the UK as a good thing long term - so I think you have more of an argument there actually as the country needs children.

Aren’t you going to tell us what utopia you come from?! No, thought not.

Is this thread Reform satire?

@ThePelican taking my first full maternity leave. Not a two kids scenario.

If you come here to work as a care worker, you do your 5 years and then you can have a baby. Contraception is freely available in the UK.

You do not come to the UK and have a baby and expect all the help that comes with that, antenatal care, free delivery and aftercare, health visitors etc until you have earned the right to do so. Unless you pay privately of course, but I don't think we do charge for maternity care.

Your question is not the subject matter- A Brit can bare a child now but an immigrant will have to wait to bare a child?

Everyone faces consequences if they choose to bare a child they can’t afford while also meeting their existing financial responsibilities whether they are British born or not.
Some women’s financial responsibilities will be their mortgage, school fees for older children, as a new migrant to the county your financial responsibilities include meeting the minimum earning threshold.

No. There is room within the 3 out of 5 years rule for you to have your baby without penalty, and still meet the criteria for ILR. So the sex discrimination point you raise doesn’t make sense.

Your position is a result of the choices you have made.

You chose to leave your home country and move to the UK.

You did this knowing you’d be taking an entry level job.

You chose to have a baby during your qualifying period for ILR.

You weren’t forced to do any of those things. I know it’s disappointing when the rules change, but that is always a possibility when you make yourself vulnerable to a system which places requirements on you.

Moving country permanently is, and should be, a big deal which comes with lots of thought and consideration, and some choices and sacrifices are bound to be part of that, just as they are with other major life decisions.

There's plenty of flexibility there to have at least one baby in those 5 years.

I waited until 35 to have my first baby. Surely a woman can keep her legs closed for a couple of years to get something as valuable as ILR.

Oh and I'm also an immigrant. Came here when I was 22. Worked hard, built up savings and employement history until I could afford a baby.

To be honest, most of my English born white colleagues are also having to wait a long time until they are financially secure to have a baby. There's nothing racist about it, just hard economic times.

But the government isn't taking away your choice as such. The UK government is saying if you want to be an immigrant there then you need to obtain your IRL BEFORE you procreate in this country.

I'm British and an immigrant in my husbands country. And yes, dealing with all the visas, costs, and other shit I have to deal with to stay here and will do until I've been here enough years to go for a long term visa or nationality along with the language requirements I now have to meet (cheers Brexit!). It is what it is. If I don't want to deal with those rules I have the option to trot on back to the UK.

If this is such an appalling place to live, what are you here?

You can't understand why people would get annoyed at being told to stick our country where the sun doesn't shine? Come on don't be so obtuse.

You don’t need to take 12 months maternity leave - just take whatever your employer pays you for. Or use Shared Parental Leave with the father. Many women do that as it minimises the impact on their salary.

Have your 2nd child, go back to work after 2 months whilst your husband stays at home. Or wait another year to have number 2.

Stop being disingenuous by ignoring that the above is absolutely reasonable options.

Tens of thousands of brits have to wait to have children and/or have fewer than they’d like because of structural inequality, some of which is caused (or certainly not helped) by laws the government have implemented.

I have no particular issue with migrants but I think the current law as fine as it is. It allows you to have one (or two if big earner or shorter maternity) children within the 5 year window which I think is ample, you may have to adjust your maternity leave to suit your financial circumstances like the majority of people with citizenship.

So you're not a net contributor then. How is the UK benefiting from you being here? This is what gets people annoyed at mass immigration - that no-one here voted for. I would have gone much further with the changes than Mahmood has. She actually couldn't get the changes through that she wanted.

Also OP you know very well that if there was a full exemption for maternity leave it would create an incentive for women to have babies solely because they weren't meeting the income requirements.

You can surely understand why that is not going to be a politically sensible approach.

Then surely you can still work your 3 years. What's the problem?

I think you put forward a very compelling case and you sound like exactly the sort of person who, over a lifetime, will work hard and contribute economically (and in other ways) to our society.

The problem we have in our country is a lot of people are struggling so much that the conversation has become really punitive, towards migrants and people on benefits.

I agree, the way you are impacted personally by this feels unfair.

Absolute nonsense.

Thousands of indigenous women can't afford to have children so you need to be grateful that you have one. We are not an ever open wallet for the entire world. It's simple economics we cannot afford to keep letting people come here and take without making proper contributions.

No one forced you.

We're benefiting because of the work she has already done and the tax she has paid, and what she will do in the future. Also we desperately need people to have children to support an increasingly aging population.