Praxis’ statement on the Immigration White Paper
This morning, the government published their long-awaited Immigration White Paper. In it, they announced plans to make it even harder for people living and working here to secure permanent settlement - Indefinite leave to Remain. They are doubling the length of time most people need to wait before applying from 5 to 10 years and introducing new eligibility criteria.
Now, most people will be forced to wait an entire decade before they can have any certainty about their future. Under these news plans, there is a possibility to secure earlier settlement based on your “contributions to our society and economy”. While we do not know what “contributions” means, it’s clear this will likely discriminate against groups more likely to be doing low-paid, part-time, or insecure work. That includes women, people of colour and people with disabilities.
Indefinite leave to remain means an end to the loop of short-term visas and extortionate fees. Without this, people are held back and held down. We already know that being on long and costly routes to settlement puts people at a higher risk of financial hardship, poverty and housing insecurity. In our research on the 10-year route more than half of the people we spoke to told us they struggled to afford bills and food while on this route to settlement. Forcing more people onto this route will undoubtedly mean more children living in poverty and more families made homeless.
It will create a growing underclass of people in society who are held back from realising their full potential and feeling like they belong. For the Praxis community, 3 out of 4 people told us that being on the 10-year route stopped them feeling like they belong in the UK, despite most having lived here for over a decade. Locking people out of the security we all need to thrive harms us all - it undermines societal cohesion and damages our economy. It creates an intergenerational injustice where some young people can’t access the same rights and support as their British peers.
While many of the details are still to come, we know more people on the 10-year route means more people pushed into hardship by the hostile immigration system, with nowhere else to turn but Praxis for support. If the Government cared about integration as much as they say they do, they would provide quicker and easier ways for people to reach settlement so they can move forward with their lives.
Here's what Anna Berry, Praxis campaigner with first-hand experience of the 10-year route had to say:
“Indefinite Leave to Remain transforms lives—it brings stability, freedom, and equality for our children. Without it, we’re trapped in limbo: working multiple jobs, unable to plan our futures, study, or travel. The 10-year route is not a pathway—it’s a punishment, forcing families into poverty and robbing people of their most productive years. Where we come from should not deny us the right to belong.
We are not a burden—we are the backbone of this country’s economy and culture. Migrant communities work hard, fill labour shortages, and enrich British society in every way. Listen to us: this is our life, our future, and it matters. If you give us the opportunity, we will run with it. Britain must decide—will it embrace the people who hold it up, or push us away at its own cost?”
We’re also extremely concerned by the plans to roll-out the use of the faulty eVisa system in immigration enforcement. The transition to eVisas has been messy to say the least. We have worked with people whose online page shows the wrong information about them or someone’s details entirely. Further expanding the use of this system to check if someone has the right to work, rent and reside in the UK has the potential to be a Windrush Scandal on steroids.
Today, Prime Minister Keir Starmer mimicked the far-right and pushed their agenda. Parroting lies about the economic impact of migration and boldly claiming it is both in the national interest and opinion to introduce yet more hostile policies. In doing so creating the context needed for the attacks to our right to citizenship and to live with our loved ones that are in this Paper.
Like many, we were sickened to hear the language used to describe migrants and refugees today. Hostile language and rules have consequences – it fuels violence. This is yet more of the same failed strategy of division that we’ve seen for fifteen years. As we recover from last year’s racist riots, this Government is putting our communities in real danger by choosing to continue down this path.
12th May 2025