Naveen Paul, 44, and his wife get to spend only a few hours a week together with their two daughters, as a result of gruelling schedules working in a care home.
Paul works days and his wife nights, so they only get “family time” when their days off line up.
Under planned immigration reforms due to come into force this autumn, care workers like Mr Paul will qualify for indefinite leave (ILR) to remain in the UK after fifteen years as opposed to the current five-year period – unless they take on extra voluntary work to ‘earn’ earlier settlement.
“We work 48 hours a week, we spend more than half of our time with the residents and the rest of the time with the kids,” he said. “Where will we get the time to do voluntary work as well?”
With Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood facing a growing revolt from over a hundred Labour MPs, including prominent cabinet members Angela Rayner and Miatta Fahnbulleh, she is reportedly considering options to exempt care workers from these plans.
Mahmood had already signalled her intention to water down her immigration reforms at the Labour party conference last month, saying the consultation had shown some people found the reforms to be “unfair”.
Mr Paul said this news has given him “hope”, but he feels there is still “uncertainty” for people in his position until the Government confirms how the proposals will be implemented.
‘Uncertainty affects everything’
Paul and his wife came to the UK from India in 2022 with their two girls, now six and twelve, and have been working in a care home in Suffolk ever since.
Under the current visa rules, they should be eligible for permanent settlement in the UK next year, but the Government’s ‘earned settlement’ proposal set out last year would increase this by ten years.
“We made our plans around the existing five years settlement pathway, knowing that the settlement was conditional on meeting the rules,” he said. “Now families like ours do not know whether we will be allowed to complete the settlement pathway we have been following.
“Our children are growing up in British schools, their friends, their routines, and much of their sense of home is here,” said Paul. “We came here because we wanted to have a better life, better education for our children. and more opportunities for kids and for us to explore as well.”
The existing rules would have meant Paul’s daughters would have been eligible for home university tuition fees by the time they turned 18, but under the new regime they would have to pay much higher international fees.
He has made adjusted financial decisions based on the possibility of the new proposals.
“I had a serious plan to buy a family home for us last year, but because of the uncertainties around the settlement…I have postponed that plan because I don’t feel like investing a huge amount on the property here [that could be] a huge liability on us later,” he said.
‘It gives me hope’
Responding to the news that Mahmood could exempt care workers from the new regime based on their ” “professional history” and “allegiance to a particular sector”, Mr Paul said: “It gives us some hope that things may get changed, but at the same time, we are still not certain because they haven’t given a clear plan on what is going to happen.”
The current proposals allow immigrants to reduce their wait for settlement by meeting certain criteria, such as showing they have volunteered in the community. Waiting times will also be shorter for those on higher salaries.
Mr Paul thinks that care workers shouldn’t have to volunteer, as they are already doing “more than enough” for society through their work and it would not be “affordable” for his family.
“Salary alone does not capture the social value of every essential job,” he said. “We care workers support older and vulnerable residents and allow families to rely on the care service so that they can go to work, and we contribute to a sector that supports the wider health system.”
Mr Paul pointed out that the care sector is in a recruitment and retention crisis, with close to 100,000 vacancies according to the latest report by industry body Skills for Care. A report by the group Justice for Carers, which represents more than 10,000 care workers in the UK, suggested 41 per cent of them would leave the country if the earned settlement proposals go ahead as planned.
“If this is not being addressed, how can a National Care Service come into place? There need to be enough staff to work in it,” he said.
There have also been suggestions that the reforms should only be applied to people arriving in the country after they come into force, with “transitional arrangements” for those already here, or that people could get legal settlement status but face restrictions on claiming benefits.
Mr Paul thinks this would be a “much fairer system” than what was proposed last year.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government has announced reforms that mean settlement must be earned and not automatic. We are currently considering responses to our consultation on elements of these reforms.”