Migrants in Britain, particularly from African communities, are reeling after Reform UK announced plans to abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) if it wins the next general election.
The party’s leader, Nigel Farage, said on Monday that his party would end the current route allowing migrants to settle permanently after five years. Instead, migrants would be required to reapply for visas every five years under tougher rules. Reform also pledged to restrict welfare access to British citizens only, a policy it claims could save £234 billion over several decades.
Farage argued that the plan would stop around 800,000 migrants from becoming eligible for permanent settlement between 2026 and 2030. “It is not for us to provide welfare for people coming in from all over the world,” he declared at a press conference.
The announcement has sparked widespread concern among Africans and other migrant groups who have lived in the UK for years. Many worry about being forced into cycles of visa renewals, family disruptions, and the risk of losing rights they had expected to secure through ILR.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that England and Wales had around 1.5 million Black residents in 2021, about 2.5% of the population. The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford estimates that by the end of 2024, about 430,000 non-EU citizens will hold ILR.
The policy has drawn criticism not only for its impact but also for its uneven application. Reform has clarified that EU nationals with settled status would not be affected. That exemption, critics argue, undermines the party’s claim of delivering major savings. Around 770,000 EU citizens currently claiming universal credit would continue to access benefits under the carve-out.
For many Africans in the UK, this has fuelled a sense of unequal treatment. “We’ve worked hard, paid taxes, and contributed for years,” one Nigerian-born resident told reporters. “Now we’re being told we may never have security here.”
ILR is a crucial milestone for migrants, granting the right to live, work and study in the UK permanently. It is also the main route to British citizenship and allows people to access public funds. Reform’s proposal to abolish it would affect not only future arrivals but also hundreds of thousands already on the path to settlement.
The backlash has been swift. Labour accused Farage of “fostering division” and warned that his plan could “tear families apart.” Party chair Anna Turley said the proposals were “falling apart in real time,” while Chancellor Rachel Reeves dismissed them as having “no basis in reality.”
The Conservatives were also critical. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Reform of “once again copying Conservative ideas, but in a way that is half-baked and unworkable.”
Downing Street framed the debate starkly, saying the country faced a choice between “national renewal” under Labour leader Keir Starmer and “division and decline” under Reform UK.
With immigration already a defining election issue, Reform’s promise to scrap ILR has injected fresh uncertainty into Britain’s migrant communities and raises questions about the country’s future direction.
