Reform plans to scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants

[Twiglets1]

BBC report following Farage's press conference this afternoon:

Reform UK has announced it would abolish the right of migrants to qualify for permanent settlement in the UK after five years, if the party wins the next election.

Under the plans, Reform would abolish the right of migrants to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) - which gives migrants rights and access to benefits - and reapply for new visas with tougher rules.

Reform will also unveil plans to bar anyone other than British citizens from accessing welfare. The party claims their plans would save £234bn over several decades.

Reform said it would replace ILR with visas that force migrants to reapply every five years. That includes hundreds of thousands of migrants currently in the UK.
Applicants would also have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold and standard of English.

The announcement launches Reform's fresh assault on what they brand the "Boriswave" - 3.8 million people who entered the UK after Brexit under looser rules brought in by Boris Johnson's administration.

Speaking at a press conference, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the "main reason" for the policy was to "wake everybody up to the Boris wave".

Hundreds of thousands of these migrants, who have come to the UK since 2021, will soon qualify for permanent residence under the ILR scheme.

Reform said the changes would not apply to EU nationals whose settled status is protected under the European Union Withdrawal Agreement, who make up the majority of benefit claimants by people with ILR.

But EU nationals not benefiting from the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement will be subject to the new system.

Reform will also introduce a new scheme called Acute Skills Shortage Visas (ASSV) for jobs in crisis. Under the scheme, firms can hire one worker from abroad only if they train one at home.

Reform will also raise the average wait for UK citizenship from six years to seven.

Reform say their policy is designed to bring Britain into line with other countries such as the US and United Arab Emirates (UAE) and save the UK more than £234bn over what it calls the "lifetime of the average migrant".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c930xypxpqpo

Immigrants are individuals though aren't they?

sounds like a really feasible idea which may curb illegal migrants from coming. although a subsidized 5 year holiday here might still appeal to many. not sure where they would want to travel to next after a stint in the uk if their home country is in total disarray.
how is the country at tracking their citizens?

That he wants to remove those who abuse the system is not what came through in the pieces I read today, in the morning. It was more towards getting rid of all immigrants, all. Because they are bankrupting us.
Which, honestly, I had never heard him saying before. I had heard him saying that what lifeinthepit says in the past. I think I need to watch what he actually said myself. The press can portrait things quite differently. Which they should not be able to do. They are meant to report things as they are, with the whole sentence and context.

The press conference has got the Tories all agitated:

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Reform UK are once again copying Conservative ideas, but in a way that is half-baked and unworkable. They lift our policies but strip away the detail that makes them enforceable.

“Mass low-skill migration carries real fiscal costs – in housing, welfare, and public services – which is why Britain needs a system that rewards contribution and stops abuse.

“Reform don’t do the hard work. They are a one-man band with no experience of government, and their reckless, Left-wing economics mean more debt, more spending, more tax.”

Mr Philp said the Tories had tabled detailed amendments in Parliament to amend indefinite leave to remain, adding: “We will double the residency requirement for Indefinite Leave to Remain to ten years, make ILR conditional on genuine economic contribution, block ILR for anyone with a criminal record, ensure there is no access to benefits pre-ILR.

“And we will go further, we will end automatic citizenship routes, impose a hard, legally binding cap on annual legal migration set by Parliament, and ensure temporary work visas are not renewed if people are unemployed or in low-paid work. Tough, fair, enforceable, and deliverable.”

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/22/politics-latest-news-nigel-farage-immigration-small-boats/

Subsidised 5 year holiday, how?

Of course. I'm a child of an immigrant. But the country is on the brink of bankruptcy which will lead to the destruction of businesses, people being made homeless and our children's futures ruined. The cost of allowing 800,000 people ILR which will mean they can claim benefits and bring dependants who can also claim benefits will be a huge cost to the country. Something needs to be done for the benefit of all of us. Not for the benefit individuals who aren't British citizens if it's against the interests of Britain. That just seems perfectly reasonable. All other countries would agree.

They wont get in so not really worthy of discussion

However, how Ive always wanted to live in a country that emulates some of the standards of the UAE

Great stuff.

As far as I can tell he is confining the restrictions to the Boris Wave. So that's people coming to the end of the 5 years before they can claim ILR. He's saying they will no longer be able to do that. Instead people will be on 5 yearly visas and they can't claim benefits. The wage requirement will be £41,000. There will be a cap on jobs like carehome workers although they will be labelled as essential workers and numbers will be reviewed each year. . Employers will need to pay a fee to employ immigrants over UK nationals..

And immigrants (not your parents obv) are to blame for that?

They want to cut back on the ones that claim benefits due to our imminent bankruptcy. So the ones that aren't working and rely on the taxpayer to support them cannot remain. This is normal in most countries.

He’s already said he would also consider stripping naturalised Britons of their citizenship. 2-tier citizenship, basically. (Ironic from someone who’s got traction shouting about 2-tier policing - now he wants to entrench it, but with his friends benefitting from it.

But just because they can claim benefits doesn't mean they will

How many are solely relying on benefits and why?

I thought it was clever. It frames whole group of people as takers from the state and then says to receive benefits you need to contribute. Apparently this logic is only confined to those with ILR right now. For now. I wonder who else will be a taker or a contributor post the election? There were some clear signs

But the country is on the brink of bankruptcy
If that was true, Farage's nasty proposals ain't gonna rescue us. He reckons it would save £234bn over several decades. Plus of course he would have to secure a working majority in Parliament.

The insinuation today was that ALL legal immigrants are here on benefits, which is nonsense. Farage is a lying lier who lies.

That's the figures that have been called into question. The government won't release them. Farage gave a figure which he thinks is actually a lot lower than the real figure. You might prefer to look it up. In any event those people are the ones he's presumably targeting.

As with all systems that have been abused, the baby may be thrown out with the bathwater. But that's the position Blair and Boris have put us all in.

Do you think he’s going to go after pensioners next?

Well pensioners with ILR were directly questioned today as to why they get pensions! Farage said that

Which type of migrant are you talking about here though?

Because if you claim asylum and are given Irefugee status then you can claim benefits from then on, your ILR coming later on. Not all refugee claims take a long time, some are fairly fast (well for the HO)

That isn’t what Mr Farage is advocating for and is not what his stated policy will do.

Look it up where?

I posted the CBS post about their numbers being wrong earlier in this thread

I thought that was a great question and I'm pleased it was asked twice as they definitely dodged it the first time it was asked!

Indeed. He stated explicitly that only UK citizens should receive a state pension. So someone who has lived here throughout their working life but was born elsewhere and paid just as much tax as an average UK citizen (and actually cost the state less if some of their education was funded abroad!) will receive no state pension because of their nationality per Farage’s policies. Pure xenophobia.

Farage is not talking about asylum seekers this time

I think the government needs to be honest about the numbers. The figures will either support Reform's argument or not. And then we can all form a view based on facts.