More Than Half of Migrant Workers Would Be Barred From Staying in UK Under Tory Plans

More than half of migrant workers would be barred from remaining in Britain indefinitely under Tory immigration plans because they do not earn enough.

Kemi Badenoch has announced that migrants will only be entitled to indefinite leave to remain if they have been working and have not claimed benefits or used social housing during 10 years in Britain.

They would also have to have been “net contributors” to the economy over the decade, meaning their tax payments outweigh the costs to the state of their children and any benefits.

Official data suggests that more than half the two million migrants who will become eligible for indefinite leave to remain in the next four to five years will not be earning enough to cross the threshold of being net contributors.

The analysis suggests that they will need to be earning on average £28,000 a year at today’s prices in order to be net contributors, where the tax paid is greater than the amount spent by the state.

Official data show that 72 per cent of skilled work visas went to migrants likely to be earning less than the average UK salary, which is around £37,000 a year. Just five per cent of all visas in 2022-23 were given to high-skilled migrants who are likely to be net contributors.

Data from the Office for Budget Responsibility suggest that low-wage migrants – earning £18,500, or half the average wage – would cost the state about £500,000 if they came to the UK in their late 20s and stayed until they were 80.

By contrast, migrants on average earnings would make a net contribution of £500,000 during their working lives from their mid-20s through to their 60s. High-wage migrants would make a net contribution of just under £1 million in the same period, according to the OBR graphs.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Indefinite leave to remain must be earned. You must contribute more financially than you take out of the system, even more so if you wish to bring a dependant, and be a part of the community you wish to join.

“A British passport is a privilege, one that has been debased by benefit tourism for too long. Our plan gets it right, making sure that those who pay their way get to stay.

“Labour wants hard-working taxpayers to subsidise recent arrivals who have never paid into the system. That is fundamentally unfair and the Conservatives’ new policy will end it. We only want a limited number of migrants who will actually make a real contribution.”

Under Mrs Badenoch’s proposals, migrants who have entered the UK legally should only be allowed to claim indefinite leave to remain once they have been in the UK for 10 years – double the current five years. They would then have to wait five years, rather than 12 months, before being able to seek citizenship.

Any migrants who had arrived illegally, whether on small boats across the Channel or overstaying their visa, would automatically be barred from claiming indefinite leave to remain even if their asylum claim was granted so they were legally recognised as refugees.

Denying them the right to remain indefinitely in the UK would leave open the possibility they could be returned to their home country if the situation that forced them to flee improved.

Anyone whose visa expired after failing to secure indefinite leave to remain could also be removed from the UK.