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 thought if you have ILR then if your child is born here, they are entitled to British citizenship? So surely on that alone, if you plan things properly, you wait to get the ILR?

Most women work about 10 years before thet get pregnant, and contribute approx £10k in NI over that time. Op has paid £10k in and pays NI too.

Exactly how is it racist to understand this country does not have the money to support the people it has that were born here without immigrants expecting support without properly contributing? I would never expect another country to pay my way.

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?

I'll reserve my sympathy for the parents in war torn and disaster hit parts of the world, of which there are many, who are struggling to keep their kids alive and would exchange the OPs issues for theirs in an instant.

So much hyperbole.

88 per cent think you are being unreasonable. And this is a left leaning site.

I agree. Writing that badly will have the opposite effect than the OP wanted

So much entitlement. The UK doesn’t owe you anything. You came here of your own free will. You chose the “newborn in your arms” which comes with all the associated costs. This is not our problem to solve.

50k is a ridiculous cut off. I work 6 days a week, 10 hour days and don't earn that.

Yeah it's too low.

I'm British and I waited until my salary was over £50k to have kids because that's when I could afford to pay for a family. This was in 2007.

There are other types of visas that don’t require that - skilled workers, care workers etc. There is also an entrepreneurial visa which does required you to meet a high threshold but there are other visas.

No one has a right to just move and live here. If you choose to do that, then the country has made it pretty clear they don’t want low income migrants (unless on a skilled or care visa). Just like hundreds of other countries, you need to be a high earner to move here.

British people born here can want whatever to can - the country needs workers of all levels, but we also really need more entry level jobs available for British graduates and trainees. We don’t need people coming from
abroad to fill those position so that’s why they want to raise the financial requirements for this type of visa. And it is fair.

Living here isn’t a right. Just like we cannot just move to another country unless we can meet strict immigration laws and financially thresholds.

Until you need emergency care.

Good luck with that

Are you a non UK citizen?

If not it doesn’t matter to you. It’s the rule for non UK citizens to come to the UK.

Still wondering why the OP said she was paying rent in knew post and then a mortgage in another...

Other parts of the diatribe, presumably written by no human hand, reminded me of Queen Victoria on Gladstone, who apparently addressed her as though she were a public meeting.

It seems pretty reasonable that if someone comes here they should be expected to earn more than minimum wage.

Because she is using AI to write the majority of her posts.

Unless Labour do something about immigration we end up with Farage as PM.

”I can think what I want about your country. It’s not a requirement to live the Uk to live here. Stop throwing your toys out of the pram. Again, the narrative that we must be so grateful to live here and use your NHS. Actually a lot of us are net contributors and personally I have never used the NHS. I go private.”

@Miaaaaaow - well there is the right to speak freely here but ultimately, in a lot of countries, they aren’t going to give long term legal rights to people who are against the country per se. In some countries you don’t just do a written test, and prove your language skills, you also do an interview, need references etc and they take those who appear to show some basic loyalty/gratitude. And things like honest character and track record do matter. I am not making this up

Yes, the OP sounds like she's expecting the UK to lie down like a doormat and cater to her every whim. No other country would be expected to do that.

Same!

It's brought the Reform / Restore lot out, some of whom don't even believe that POC born here are British and probably want them deported.

Most people disagree with the OP and many of them like me see many positive aspects to immigration. I don't want to indulge or endorse the level of entitlement and hyperbole of the OP though.

Vanishingly unlikely.

Why are you assuming those on maternity leave aren’t contributing? Maternity pay is taxable at your marginal rate. It is possible to earn enough to be taxed across 2 tax years, and not enough to hit this threshold.

Well it's around 20%

I think the issue is that of those born here, 25% are economically inactive Vs 24% of migrants. 85% of the welfare bill goes on British nationals.

My view is that you get out what you put in. If you earn well and pay into a tax system, you get treated fairly regardless of ethnicity.

Bear in mind most people earning over £50k don't use the NHS as jobs paying that kind of money offer private healthcare. I for one, nor any members of my family have used the NHS in the last 20 years.

If you come to this country and contribute, why shouldn't you be able to make it your home?