By Editor
Leader of the United Kingdom's Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has urged the Labour government to retain its proposed 10-year qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), insisting that temporary work visas should not automatically lead to permanent residency in Britain.
Badenoch made the call in a post on her X account on Monday while publishing a letter addressed to the UK Home Secretary. In the letter, she criticised moves by some Labour lawmakers to water down the government's proposed immigration reforms.
According to her, people who enter the UK on temporary work visas should not expect to remain permanently by default.
"People who come to Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be able to stay forever," Badenoch wrote, adding that the Labour government's original proposal to make permanent settlement more difficult was the right approach.
The letter, jointly signed by Badenoch and the Conservative Party's Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, warned against reports suggesting that about two million migrants who arrived in the UK on work visas between 2021 and the present could be exempted from the proposed changes.
Describing the reported exemption as "a grave mistake," the Conservative leader argued that Britain's previous immigration policies had shown that allowing migrants to qualify for permanent residency after only five years was too lenient.
She maintained that individuals who have not made what she described as a significant economic contribution over a 10-year period should return to their home countries once their temporary work visas expire.
Badenoch also argued that many migrants currently occupying low-paid and low-skilled jobs could be replaced by economically inactive British citizens if more employment opportunities were created for them.
According to her, granting Indefinite Leave to Remain after just five years places additional pressure on the country's welfare system because recipients become eligible for public benefits and may later apply for British citizenship.
She further rejected claims that extending the qualifying period to 10 years would amount to changing immigration rules retrospectively, insisting that holding a temporary work visa does not automatically confer the right to permanent settlement.
"The government is perfectly entitled to decide at any time the rules on indefinite rights of settlement, including in relation to those already in the country," she stated.
Offering bipartisan support, Badenoch said the Conservative Party would back Labour's original immigration proposals if they were introduced in Parliament without being weakened.
She added that Labour's final decision on the reforms would demonstrate whether the party was genuinely committed to reducing immigration and strengthening Britain's border controls.