"It is against British values of fairness to change these rules retrospectively and the Government must urgently change course."
Over 600 people from unions, the NHS and community groups will gather in Parliament this afternoon to oppose the Government’s proposed “earned settlement” reforms.
The event has been organised by migrant charity Praxis.
The reforms will see the standard qualifying period for settlement double to 10 years for most migrants.
The government has said the changes will be applied retrospectively to those already in the UK. This means around 1.35 million people already living and working in the country would be affected by the changes.
In addition, Labour has made refugee status temporary and subject to reassessment every two and a half years.
Refugees will face a 20-year wait to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain. Previously, they had to wait five years.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that more than 100 Labour MPs had written to Keir Starmer urging him to rethink the changes.
The government’s consultation on the proposals, which received 200,000 responses, has now closed.
However, campaigners have pointed out that some of the changes will take effect as early as the end of March. They say that this leaves little time for meaningful parliamentary scrutiny of the measures.
Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, said: “These proposals would lock hundreds of thousands of working people into decades of insecurity. Migrant workers who keep our NHS running, care for our elderly and power local economies are being told their future here is conditional and uncertain.”
Blake added: “It is against British values of fairness to change these rules retrospectively and the Government must urgently change course.”
Bejoy Sebastian, RCN President, said that migrant health and care staff “have worked alongside us since the inception of the NHS”.
“It’s difficult to understand why ministers would create so much uncertainty for those who have made such a vital contribution to society,” he said, describing the plans as “as immoral as they are illogical”.
NHS nurses will stay on the same 5-year qualifying route for settled status, however, Sebastian says that this will not apply to nursing support workers and care workers.
He said it would be “an outrageous betrayal” to increase the qualifying period for these workers.
“Constant limbo and uncertainty are no way to treat those who come to the UK to treat our sick and vulnerable,” he added.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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