By Tony O’Reilly-
Farage’s Plan to End Indefinite Leave to Remain Draws Mass Condemnation.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage pledged to abolish the main route to permanent residency in the UK, targeting hundreds of thousands of settled migrants. Mr. Farage announced his party’s plan to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) entirely, replacing it with a five-year renewable work visa.
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Nigel Farage. Photographer: Darren Staples/Bloomberg
Current ILR holders, who have built lives and careers in Britain over many years, would also be forced to reapply for this new, more restrictive status. This policy move, which the party claims will save taxpayers over £200 billion by cutting welfare access, has been immediately labelled a “mass deportation” threat by critics.
Mr. Farage described the current system for indefinite leave to remain as having “betrayed democracy,” promising to stop the so-called “Boriswave”—the increase in legal migration under post-Brexit rules established by the Conservative government.
Reform UK’s proposals include increasing the required length of residency from five to seven years before an application can be made and introducing a “materially higher” salary threshold, potentially near £60,000. Under this proposed new visa, migrants would also face tighter restrictions on bringing spouses and children to the UK.
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Additionally, migrants would lose access to the welfare system, regardless of their work history or contribution to the economy. Reform UK’s policy chief, Zia Yusuf, stated the plan would “lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status.”
Claims of Racism and Unworkable Chaos Follow Indefinite Leave to Remain Scrapping
Political opponents and migration charities quickly denounced the plan, highlighting its potential to cause enormous societal and economic disruption. Critics argued that the move to strip existing status from people who legally settled in the UK is morally wrong. They warned that applying this policy retrospectively to people who have lived and worked legally in the UK for years would result in an “unworkable stunt” and legal chaos.
The policy has also faced accusations of racism. Many believe it disproportionately targets people of colour who arrived under post-Brexit schemes, essentially scapegoating migrants for broader societal failures in infrastructure and the National Health Service (NHS).
Migration charities, such as Praxis, pointed out the inherent danger in threatening people’s right to belong, arguing the proposal would “tank our already-struggling economy.” The plan could severely disrupt essential public services like the care sector and the NHS, both of which rely heavily on migrant labour.
A researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford questioned some of the data presented by Reform UK, specifically the £234 billion savings figure, which comes from a report that has since been retracted by its own think tank for a dispute over the numbers.
Indefinite leave to remain status is crucial because it allows people to establish roots and contribute fully to their communities. Indefinite leave to remain grants individuals the right to live, work, and study in the UK permanently.
Broader Debate on Legal Immigration and UK Belonging
This aggressive stance on indefinite leave to remain has thrust the debate on legal immigration back into the national spotlight. While Mr. Farage claims to be focusing on the “too little debate about legal immigration,” his plans have provoked significant backlash.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan publicly condemned the proposals, stating that threatening to deport people living and working here legally is “unacceptable.”
The debate also touches upon the core values of the United Kingdom, particularly the principle of belonging for those who have legally contributed to the country. Labour has also proposed tightening ILR rules, suggesting most applicants should wait ten years, but this falls far short of Reform UK’s plan to abolish the status and potentially deport hundreds of thousands of people.
The controversy will certainly continue to dominate the political agenda as the next general election approaches. Reform UK must now defend their calculations and justify the humanitarian and economic costs of rescinding legally granted settled status. For more information on the current UK immigration system and the right to remain requirements, visit the official government website.
You can watch an overview of the controversial plan in the video below.The video features Nigel Farage discussing his plan to scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants in the UK.
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