Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been accused of causing 'distress and uncertainty' for hundreds of thousands of refugees. The Refugee Council claims that her plans have forced refugees to wait up to 30 years before gaining the right to settle in the United Kingdom.
The Council states that the tightening of rules has occurred despite Mahmood's assurances last year. At the time, she stated that only 'illegal entrants who are not refugees will wait 30 years for settlement'. A group of 200,000 successful asylum claimants, who were told they could apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years, will now face status reviews every 30 months.
Mahmood announced a series of immigration proposals on Monday. Some of them relaxed rules for carers and their families after unions, cabinet members and Labour MPs expressed concern. Refugees who arrive by illegal means, for example by small boat, will face a 30-year wait for settlement under the new plans.
Last year's consultation included a proposal that those who arrived illegally would face a 10-year penalty. It was not expected that this penalty would apply to those granted refugee status, and Mahmood wrote last year that refugees would be exempt. In a post on the social media platform X on 21 November 2025, she shared a picture of the white cliffs of Dover with the words: 'Illegal entrants who are not refugees will face a 30-year wait for settlement.' The House of Commons library cited that post as evidence that only 'non-refugees who secured a visa after illegal entry or overstaying will wait up to 30 years'.
In March, the government reassured hundreds of thousands of asylum claimants that they would be able to apply for settlement after five years if their claim had already been submitted. The explanation in the memorandum at the time stated: 'Adults and accompanied and unaccompanied children who have been granted five-year leave to remain as a result of an asylum claim or additional submissions by 1 March 2026 will remain eligible to apply for settlement after five years.' This guarantee has been removed in the fine print of the latest government immigration plan published on Monday.
According to footnote 14 in the Home Office document 'A fairer pathway to settlement': 'One refugees, who are not on safe and legal routes, and who claimed asylum before 2 March 2026, transition to basic protection.' Under the Home Office's basic protection system, adults and their children receive an initial period of only 30 months of leave to remain, which must then be renewed. If conditions in their country of origin are considered safe, their refugee status can be revoked.
Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, said: 'Constantly changing positions on what refugees should expect will cause distress and huge uncertainty.' He added that thousands of refugees who thought they were only weeks or months away from access to settlement could now face waiting another 25 years. 'It is impossible to expect people to start new lives while living with temporary status that expires every 30 months over 30 years', he said. He also claimed that these plans will cause chaos for the Home Office, which will have to process repeated additional applications for decades at a huge cost to public funds.
The Home Office responded to the Refugee Council's analysis that there had been no change in policy from last year's proposals, but declined to comment further on Mahmood's comments on X or the footnote in the recent Home Office document. Mahmood told MPs on Monday: 'The right to live permanently in the United Kingdom will no longer be granted to migrants almost automatically after five years.' She added that this right would instead be 'earned', under a new model of 'earned settlement' presented to parliament that day.
