Indefinite Leave to Remain

Sojan Joseph Excerpts

Monday 8th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister to his position. I hope that he is enjoying the debate.

I understand why the Government are proposing to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. I think we all recognise that the immigration numbers are high. This is a complex challenge, not least, let us remember, because of Boris Johnson’s failed Brexit deal—a deal for which the leader of the Reform party, the hon. Member for Clacton (Nigel Farage), also bears great responsibility: it opened the door to historically high levels of unskilled net migration. In my view, the leader of the Reform party is as much to blame as the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

[Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)]

The leader of Kent county council has asked the Government to increase the number of visas for healthcare workers, but does my hon. Friend agree that there is a double standard? One minute they are asking to stop the immigration, and the next one they are asking for more health workers to be brought from abroad?

[Ben Coleman]

It will come as no surprise to anybody who has ever dealt with any member of the Reform political party for more than five minutes that double standards are involved. We only have to read what its leader says from one week to the next to realise that its association and commitment to maintaining a close relationship with the truth is very weak.

I go back to what I was saying. When we talk about the high levels of net immigration, we must not lose sight of the human impact of the proposals that the Government have brought forward, especially—as many people have recognised—on those who have already built their lives here and are net contributors to our economy and communities.

Since the publication of the White Paper in May, many residents in my constituency of Chelsea and Fulham have got in touch with me. These are skilled workers, and their overwhelming feeling is simply of being blindsided. They came to the UK in good faith and followed the rules, and now they are being told that these rules might change just before they become eligible to settle. They also find it destabilising that, almost four months since the publication of the White Paper, the Government have still not given clear guidance on when the rules will come into effect, who will be affected and how it will work.

One couple told me how they moved from the United States in 2020. They both work for global firms and pay the top rate of tax, and they rightly believed that in April 2026—just down the road—they could apply for settlement. Now they write to me:

“The rug has been pulled from beneath us.”

Their plans are suddenly on indefinite pause. Similarly, I have a young scientist in my constituency who studied in the UK and works in clinical research. She has paid her international student fees and taxes, and she has invested her savings here, but now she still has no certainty about her future. In my constituency there is also a local NHS speech therapist and her husband, who is a data scientist, and they are expecting their first child. They told me that even if they are not caught out by the changes now, they have no faith that, given the way in which this has been handled, the system will not be changed again in the future.

People cannot plan their lives without basic certainty. I am hoping that the Minister today will be able to provide my residents with the clarity they need and tell us when the Government plan to launch the consultation they promised. The previous Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley (Yvette Cooper), said:

“There will be plenty of opportunity for people to comment on and consider the detail”—[Official Report, 12 May 2025; Vol. 767, c. 53]

of the proposals. I hope that that will still be the case, and perhaps the Minister can reassure us of that. I would also like to understand whether the consultation will contain a clear and detailed definition of what the White Paper refers to as

“Points-Based contributions to the UK economy and society”.

Who exactly will be eligible for a shorter pathway to indefinite leave to remain?

So many of my residents are literally counting the days until they become eligible for settlement. They deserve decent treatment, not five more years of waiting. I look forward to the Minister’s responses, and to being able to offer my residents the much-needed reassurance to which I think we all agree they are entitled.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sojan Joseph (Ashford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Pritchard. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Norfolk (Ben Goldsborough) on his excellent speech introducing this petition. I am grateful to the 292 constituents of mine who signed the petition urging that any changes to indefinite leave to remain should not apply to those already in the UK or on a skilled worker visa.

As we all know, the NHS is reliant on overseas workers. As of September 2023, around 20% of NHS England roles were filled by non-UK nationals. That includes one in three doctors and three in 10 nurses. In both the NHS and the social care sector, recruitment of overseas staff increased after the pandemic, with campaigns run in places such as Kerala in India. In 2022, 73,000 skilled worker visa applicants were sponsored in the health and care sector.

While I support efforts to end the long-term reliance on recruiting internationally to fill such roles, it is important to acknowledge the invaluable role that skilled overseas workers play in our health and social care sector. As the co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on adult social care, and as someone who came to this House from working in the NHS, I understand how important it is that we do not lose the skills of those who are already working in our health and social care sector.

My constituents who work in the NHS have made the point that the cost of recruiting and training an overseas nurse is anywhere between £50,000 and £60,000, and roughly £250,000 for a doctor. They argue that this country has made that investment so that people can train, learn and work in our healthcare sector. However, the certainty they had about their lives in the UK has been thrown into doubt, and now they cannot plan for the future.

I am grateful to the 168 constituents who signed the e-petition calling for Hong Kong British national overseas visa holders to be exempted from any change to the indefinite leave to remain. I am particularly grateful to one constituent who came to a recent surgery with a letter signed by 80 Hong Kong BNO visa holders living in Ashford, Hawkinge and the villages. Those who live in my constituency are making a positive contribution to our community. Many of them have joined the workforce, finding employment in healthcare, education and trade, with some opening their own businesses. They have enriched local towns and villages by volunteering and becoming actively involved with local groups. As most of them have young families, their children have joined and become settled in local schools. They left Hong Kong due to the suppression of freedoms, and came to the UK to rebuild their lives.

In their letter to me, my constituents spoke about the current uncertainty in their lives, especially for those with school-age children. They hope that the Minister’s response to this debate might go some way towards giving them clarity about their status. I look forward to the Minister’s response to the points that I and others have made.