It’s not quite citizenship, but it’s close enough. The UK offers a number of loopholes or “fast tracks” to permanent residency for third world migrants, and one of those loopholes is “Indefinite Leave to Remain” (ILR), also known as permanent settlement.
Settlement status allows migrants to stay in the UK essentially for the rest of their lives, with unrestricted access to the labor market, access to health and welfare benefits, and the ability to leave and reenter the country any time they wish. It also gives them the ability to bring their families to live in the UK. They enjoy many of the advantages of citizens, except they don’t get to vote and their children do not automatically become citizens.
Many critics of the system argue that once these migrants become entrenched, it is impossible to legally deport them. They also argue that “settlement” is a progressive government agenda to provide to mass citizenship for millions of migrants in the near future.
At bottom, ILR is a way for left-wing leaders to import masses of migrants while pretending as if this is not true immigration.
A debate has been raging over more strict rules for who qualifies for settlement, but the UK government’s obsession with multiculturalism makes any serious immigration reform difficult. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced final details of the government’s reforms to permanent settlement rules, and she notes that there will be special allowances for most migrants working in social care.
🚨 BREAKING: Shabana Mahmood confirms most social care migrants will now be exempt from waiting 15 years to settle in Britain https://t.co/sDtHJKZIEb
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) November 2, 2026
Under the original reforms, all migrants would have to wait 10-15 years for access to permanent settlement, but sweeping exceptions are being made for social service and healthcare workers, giving them a 5-year path.
What this means is, around 300,000 migrants and their families will be given full access to the UK along with permanent residency as long as they work in designated healthcare fields. The Home Office estimates 1.9 million additional migrants will settle in the UK between 2026 and 2030 under the new rules (though other figures suggest the number will be closer to 2.2 million).
Keep in mind, there are currently around 1.3 million UK nationals who are unemployed in 2026 unemployed. Rather than giving these people a pathway to jobs in healthcare, the government has chosen to import third worlders instead.
Critics of the plan assert that the government is trying to make future deportations more difficult by expediting settlement status for millions before national elections in 2029, and perhaps making it possible for the migrants to participate in elections. Conservatives are expected to dominate unless the current leadership can find a way to dilute the vote. They have already lowered the voting age to 16-years-old by 2029.
The pandemic was used as an excuse for rapid immigration of “healthcare workers” from other countries under the claim that there were shortages. Being that Covid turned out to be a minimal threat, these workers are largely unnecessary. However, they have still been widely glorified in popular media and state propaganda as “saviors’ of the country.
Furthermore, there is an issue which the UK government rarely acknowledges: Fake degrees, fake qualifications and fraud testing for candidate who apply for work in healthcare.
In 2023 the Nursing and Midwifery Council and its test provider identified widespread suspected fraud at the Yunnik Technologies test centre in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data showed anomalous, extremely fast completion times consistent with proxy testing (someone else sitting the exam).
There have been a number of criminal convictions for people who lied about qualifications to obtain nursing roles. One high-profile example is Tanya Nasir, who was jailed in 2024 after fraudulently securing a senior neonatal nurse position using false certificates, exaggerated experience and incorrect qualification dates.
Independent inspections have found cases of forged evidence, certificates of sponsorship issued to non-existent or tiny operations, and licenses granted on false information.
All of these problems could be solved by requiring companies to fill these jobs with UK nationals. Removing the concept of permanent settlement would also eliminate the incentives for migrants to defraud the system. What the UK government has established is a half measure, blocking some migrants from easy residency, but still leaving the door open to millions of others in the name of “healthcare worker shortages”.
Again, serious immigration reform in the UK under progressive governments is simply not going to happen.
