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.

The country you have chosen to move to don’t want to make the immigration requirements easier for those who choose to have a child though. Thats fairly obvious and it’s not going to change.

Yes. It saddens me greatly that we are hosting people like you in the UK. Many people actually want to come here and are positive about the UK and its future. Posters like you do them a terrible disservice.

If you haven't understood the responses you've already had and they haven't made you aware of your entitled attitude I'm not going to waste my time spelling it out to you, so you'll be waiting a long time.

Yes my children are privately educated.
I am as entitled to slag off the UK as anyone living here. I already said it’s also a beautiful country with some brilliant people. It’s not a country I would choose to live in was it not for my DH no. He is the love of my life however, so here I am slagging your country off.

People born and bred here can’t afford kids .
You haven’t contributed for long enough so why should you be exempt.

Your attitude and entitlement is quite shocking.

You knew charges were afoot but chose to have children …many born here don’t have that luxury as they can’t afford to start families in the current cost of living climate.

The changes were watered down yesterday, the next government may well go much further….

Because you have PRODUCED a child.

Produced - ‘To make or create’

i have asked several times - how will their education and healthcare be funded?

You are not “hosting”me. I more than pay my way, don’t worry about that.

Unfair on you but fairer on the British citizens.

@LostWitch this laws just came into place yesterday.

the reason you waited must’ve been completely different.

The threshold states 3 of 5 years. This law is coming while I’m on my mat leave, had it come earlier I’m sure I would be unhappy but have time to plan adequately. I’m caught off guard. The white paper didn’t give a hint at all they proposed an exemption

I mean, you could pay me a million pounds a minute and I still wouldn't love having you as a lodger I suspect.

@Zinary you have a choice not to be in a country that makes rules you dont agree with. The agency is on you. Is it fair? Who knows? As harvest have said, there are many people in the UK that cannot afford to have children.Therefore, society dictates whether or not they can have a family. The key here is having appreciation for the fact you can be in the UK to begin with , as many people do not have that luxury.

I think large numbers of british people feel that they have been taken for a ride for several decades now. The fact is, we are in 3 trillion pounds worth of debt. While I am very much in favour of compassion and kindness that does not balance the books.

Can I ask what you wanted from this thread?Given that it seems you have already made up your mind?

I have come to realise that if you want validation for your opinion, this is not the place to be coming for it.

I hope you feel better soon.

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 have to say when I was sat there with my newborn, soaking in the pure joy of my baby my brain could scarcely string a sentence together let alone trot out dozens of long posts on immigration law within the space of a couple of hours.

Wanting women who choose to procreate to be except from the same immigration requirements as everyone else is the definition of entitlement.

That’s great - if you are paying for everything then crack on.

Does your DH not care for you in the same way that he would move if you are clearly that unhappy and think our country is so bad?

It's a whole new level to migrate to a country and then spend your time slagging it off. Only the UK would tolerate this kind of thing! I'm afraid I also hope you find your way home soon.

@Zinary

"The rule that takes away my choice to bare children within a certain timeframe is infringing on my fundamental rights as a human."

No it doesn't, it actually puts you on an equal footing with UK citizens who have to let their personal finances dictate how far apart they can space their children.

The fact that you believe it's a fundamental human right to bear children within your own personally chosen time frame is crazy.
That you think any country that you decided to migrate to for a better life owes you this choice as a fundamental human right is beyond crazy.

Don't worry though, there's bound to be a human rights lawyer willing to take up your cause against the UK, a country you decided you wanted to live in and raise children in. I do know of one in particular with more free time these days.

Ok OP - so I’m assuming the country will be footing the bill for your child’s education for the next 18 years? And their healthcare for their lifetime potentially?

All the longer posts, including the OP, are obviously pure LLM generated - and OP probably didn't even bother to read them over based on the fact that she just replied to someone quoting her OP as if it was a comment from that poster.

But I don't think a bot based on the shorter posts. Possibly someone not entirely confident in English.

OP, I am a British immigrant in another country and it just comes with the territory that you don't have full rights or equality in any country until you are a citizen. I wasn't even allowed to apply until I'd been here for 7 years so always thought the 5 years in the UK was a nice deal!

If I fell in love with an Afghan man I wouldn’t move to Afghanistan

I was born in the Balkans and I wouldn’t move to any of those countries for a man, not even the love of my life.

I think the vast majority of people would agree with those statements.

So you really, really don’t have to be here if you hate it so much! You can just leave! Which superior country will you choose? And why doesn’t your husband go with you to your own home country?

@Anarchy99 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?

the government is has never mentioned education as a challenge they always said public funds.
Because Education and Health is a fundamental right for kids.

I don’t have access to any other funds available. Education and Health is bare minimum for all lives.

What do you mean by “statutory maternity dip”?

If by it you mean an unavoidable reduction in income resulting from mandated maternity leave, then I think you are mistaken.

The minimum maternity leave a mother must take is 2 weeks (4 of working in a factory but irrelevant in this case as unlikely to be earning £50k+).

The 2 weeks are typically at full pay (most employers of individuals in £50k jobs would offer reasonable contractual maternity pay). Worst case, it’s statutory, which is 90% of your weekly average. So in theory you’d lose on £192 by taking mandated maternity leave.

This is negligible meaning it’s likely you’d be able to use savings to cover the short fall (previously this was allowed, is it still) or, more realistically, have a conversation with your employer re. why you need an extra £192 / year. No reasonable employer would not increase your salary by this amount given the circumstances and knowing that it’d mean they’d likely have to refind, rehire, retrain a replacement which would cost them much more.

So I don’t think this is a logical argument you can be making.

Just take a shorter maternity leave OP, I know I did. Or delay children, as many do. Or just have one, as many are forced to for economic reasons. Or share your leave with your partner. This is low down on my list of things to worry about.

Your tone is entitled and will turn off support.
You need to form your argument around what the UK stands to lose rather than what you personally stand to lose.
Why is it so beneficial to the UK to have you here, and why does this rule act as such a disincentive that you will not stay? If we thought we were going to see a mass exodus of unique essential workers because women couldn't reasonably be expected to find a work around, your argument would have weight.
Can you make one like this?

So are you already on your 2nd maternity leave in 5 years? Otherwise I can't see why you are taking it so personally.

You won’t have to as I own my own very nice home ☺️Look, I am a law abiding citizen. I am nice to my neighbours. I more than pay my way in the a British economy. I am just challenging your stereotype of the grateful immigrant who come here for your benefits and nhs. That is not everyone’s story. It’s not mine. Now I have to go and work like a nice contributing immigrant that I am 😊