Download the one-pager

December 2022

JCWI and Praxis's joint policy one-pager on why we must cap routes to settlement at 5 years and abolish the lengthy and expensive 10-year route.

What’s the ask?

Everyone should be able to access settlement after 5 years’ documented residence.

What is ‘settlement’?

This refers to permanent residence, or Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). People who are ‘settled’ in the UK can live, work and access state support indefinitely, and no longer apply to extend their right to stay every few years. After having ILR for 12 months, most people can apply for Citizenship.

Background

Once people enter the UK, they form permanent relationships and communities, and put down roots. The UK’s current immigration system does not take this into account. Instead, it creates precarity and can cause people to become undocumented.  Too many visas come with no pathway to settlement or renewal, and others include a long and expensive 10-year path to settlement.   

Most migrants with the right to stay in the UK are eligible for settlement after 5 years. However, many visa holders must wait 10 years until they can settle permanently. An estimated 170,000 people are currently on the so-called 10-year route to settlement, introduced in 2012 in an attempt to reduce net yearly migration. This applies to two broad groups: people in the UK because of their family life and people seeking settlement because they have lived in the UK for many years, including all previously undocumented migrants.

The 10-year route traps people in a cycle of poverty. It disproportionately applies to people on low incomes, and subsequently requires them to pay eye-watering fees every 2.5 years for 10 years. The cost of each visa renewal is currently £2,612, making the total cost of obtaining settlement just under £13,000 per person. Further, being forced to exist in a state of instability for such a long time can have a hugely detrimental impact on one’s physical and mental health. Research by the Children’s Commissioner highlights the trauma and stress children subject to immigration control experience due to ‘living in a state of limbo’.

Research suggests that the 10-year route makes people undocumented. Many are simply unable to meet the huge costs or jump through complex legal hoops every few years. Most people on this route are subject to the NRPF condition, which indirectly discriminates against women, disabled people and Black and Brown people, pushing thousands into poverty and insecure housing each year. With the COVID outbreak and rising cost of living, the situation facing those with NRPF has worsened significantly. If their income drops, or prices rise, not only is it harder to make ends meet, but also to pay huge fees for regular visa applications.

How would it work?

The Government must listen to widespread criticism of the 10-year route and make changes to ensure that everyone can permanently settle in the UK after 5 years’ documented residence. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has long called for the 10-year route to be reviewed with a view to scrapping it, due to its impact on families and potential discriminatory impact. He has also highlighted the role this route plays in making people undocumented.

In May 2022, the Government took the positive step of introducing a fairer, shorter 5-year route to settlement for people who came to the UK as children, after tireless campaigning by young activists and We Belong. Now, it must build on this progress and abolish the complex and expensive 10-year route to settlement so that all migrants can access permanent settlement after 5 years documented residence. This would improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who have put down roots in the UK, enabling them to live and thrive as part of our communities, and would hugely reduce the administrative burden on migrants and the Home Office caused by extended visa renewals.

For more detail on this proposal read our report We Are Here: Routes to Regularisation for the UK’s Undocumented Population, briefings on shorter routes to settlement by Praxis and We Belong,  or contact [email protected].