Scrapping plans to make “Boriswave” migrants wait longer for permanent residency will cost each British household more than £1,000, new analysis has shown.
A total of 1.6 million foreign workers rushed to Britain between 2021 and 2024, thanks to Boris Johnson’s visa reforms in what has now been dubbed “Boriswave”.
To combat the population surge, Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, has announced plans to double the time it takes for foreign nationals to obtain permanent settled status in the UK.
The proposals would raise the qualifying period for permanent settlement from five years to 10, a policy the Home Secretary says is inspired by Denmark.
The Home Secretary also wants to apply the changes to migrants who arrived in the UK since 2021.
But these plans could be disrupted as mounting pressure from Labour MPs to drop the plans has grown.
More than 100 MPs, including former deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, have signed a letter opposing Ms Mahmood’s plans.
Ms Rayner has even branded them “un-British”.
Incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham is also understood to have a softer stance on immigration.
Last year, he criticised the plans, claiming they would leave migrants in a “sense of limbo and unable to integrate”.
Reform UK, which has previously called for a national inquiry into the “Boriswave” migration surge, has estimated that allowing the 1.6 million migrants to gain indefinite leave to remain would cost each British household £1,100.
The total cost to the taxpayer over their lifetime is £30billion, according to the analysis.
Holding ILR means there are no longer any time limits on your ability to stay, live, work, or study in the UK.
Those who qualify can also access public funds and it is often the final step before applying for full British citizenship.
Obtaining settled status also means migrants no longer have to pay the £1,035 immigration health surcharge or visa fees.
Mr Johnson claimed to GB News it was “total rubbish” that he allowed “millions to arrive legally through the front door”.
He blustered: “When you look at what actually happened, when we came out of the EU, we took back full legal control, so the first year of my premiership we had the lowest immigration for 40 years.
“And then what actually happened was I’m afraid that the system believed the rubbish Remain propaganda that everybody had fled the UK.”
Speaking to GB News, the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage previously warned Britain could not afford to provide health care and education for dependants of migrants.
Mr Farage announced his party would go as far as to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) entirely.
