Foreigners jostle to secure UK residency rights before rules tighten

The United Kingdom has seen a spike in the number of migrants applying for citizenship and permanent settlement ahead of a planned government clampdown.

Government data shows what appears to be a rush to secure residency rights in response to changes announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that would force migrants to wait longer before they can gain them.

The Home Office said 199,628 people were granted settlement, giving them the right to live, work and study in the UK permanently, in the year through June 2026. Most granted indefinite leave to remain can then apply for citizenship after 12 months.

These figures represent a 24 per cent increase from a year earlier and the highest number since 2010. Over the same 12 month period, 245,520 people were granted British citizenship. Although that was slightly lower than a year earlier, the number of citizenship applications surged 17 per cent to a record 315,224. There was a 44 per cent increase in the number of citizenship applications refused.

The proposed reforms to indefinite leave to remain, which offers permanent settlement rights and a route to citizenship, would double the qualification period from five to 10 years and are controversial among members of the governing Labour Party.

The government is currently consulting on the proposals for stricter settlement rules and new Prime Minister Andy Burnham is under pressure from Labour MPs to reconsider whether to push ahead with the changes, first announced under his predecessor Keir Starmer.