UK plans to double permanent settlement wait for some migrants already in the country

By Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government is planning to make some immigrants living in the country wait up to five years longer to qualify for permanent settlement under Prime Minister Keir Starmer's plans to cut immigration numbers.

The government announced migration reforms on Monday which would, among other measures, double the amount of time required before a person automatically qualifies for the right to stay in Britain or can apply for citizenship, from five to 10 years.

It had not been immediately clear whether the rule change would apply to those already living in Britain, or for people just moving to the country and due to start the process.

Government officials said on Thursday that while those who arrived on a family visa or as a dependent would retain the five-year route, interior minister Yvette Cooper wanted the longer timeframe to apply to everyone else.

One law firm, Farrer&Co, said the change may also not apply to migrants from the European Union who applied for settled status after Brexit, because their treatment was agreed as part of Britain's departure from the bloc in 2020.

A spokesman for Starmer said that the migration plans would be consulted on before any changes are introduced.

Immigration has long been one of the most important issues for voters in Britain. Controlling the number of arrivals was a key factor in the 2016 vote to leave the EU, yet net arrivals hit record levels after it left the bloc, helping to boost Nigel Farage's right-wing, anti-immigration Reform UK party.

Starmer, in setting out proposals to reduce immigration, has been heavily criticised by some in his own party and beyond after he warned that Britain risked becoming "an island of strangers" and said immigration had run out of control.

His language has drawn parallels to a former right-wing politician Enoch Powell who warned in a now-infamous 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech that Britons would find themselves "strangers in their own country" - a speech that is widely regarded as one of the most divisive in modern British politics.

Starmer's spokesperson said he completely rejected the comparison, adding that migrants had made a massive contribution to Britain but that numbers needed to be controlled.

Some Labour members of parliament have also raised concerns about the possibility of longer qualifying periods applying to people already in Britain.

Florence Eshalomi, a Labour member of parliament who chairs the Commons housing, communities and local government committee, said she had been contacted by several constituents, who were working towards getting permanent settlement in Britain.

She said one was now considering leaving.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout; additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by Kate Holton, Alexandra Hudson)