There’s a rule in the UK that forces some migrants to wait ten years before they can apply to stay permanently. Not because they’ve done anything wrong. Just because that’s how the system is set up.
The people affected by this aren’t strangers. They’re carers, nurses, parents. People who’ve lived here for years, worked, paid taxes, and built lives alongside us. And yet they’re told to keep waiting. Ten years of uncertainty. Ten years of application fees, renewals, paperwork and limbo.
It’s called the 10-year route to settlement. You only qualify if your situation falls outside the standard immigration system. Like if you’re caring for a British child, or you’ve lived here a long time but don’t meet a technical requirement. You’re given a 2.5-year visa, then told to renew it four times. Only then can you apply to stay permanently.
The costs add up. Nearly £19,000 across those ten years, plus a final fee of over £3,000. That’s before you even think about legal help. Most people on the route are already in low-paid work, or excluded from public funds. Many are women, disproportionately from Black and South Asian backgrounds. It’s not a route that anyone chooses. It’s what you’re left with.
Some people are already here for decades before even getting on this track. Then they’re asked to prove, again and again, that they still deserve to be here.
It wears people down.
A recent white paper from the UK government suggests making this ten-year route the standard. Not just for the people currently forced onto it, but for everyone. Settlement would be something to earn, not something you’re entitled to after building a life. The proposed system rewards extra work, study, or volunteering. As if the people already holding up parts of the economy aren’t doing enough.
Campaigners are calling for the opposite. A fair system. One where five years of living here is enough to apply for permanent settlement. Where fees are affordable, and where people aren’t punished with insecurity just because they earn less or fell through a bureaucratic gap.
Praxis, a charity that supports migrants, is leading a campaign called Scrap the Barriers. The message is simple. Ten years is too long. The government’s own data shows the damage this policy does. To mental health, to families, to communities. Even the Home Office has admitted it increases risk and hardship.
The people on this route are not asking for special treatment. They just want to stop living on a countdown. To be able to plan a future, sign a lease, take a job, raise kids without the looming question of what happens when the visa runs out again.
If we believe in fairness, in community, in recognising the people who are already part of this place, then this is a good time to speak up.
Sign the petition. Add your name. Ten years is too long.
Tag: social justice
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Ten Years is Too Long
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Public Broadcasting, Private Burden
I believe in public service broadcasting.
The idea of a well-funded, independent broadcaster providing education, culture, news, and entertainment for everyone, regardless of income, is something worth protecting. That’s why I support the principle of the BBC.
But I don’t support the TV licence as a way to fund it.
A Flat Tax in Disguise
Right now, the licence fee is £174.50 a year. It’s the same for everyone, whether you’re a millionaire or struggling to make ends meet. That’s not fair.
It’s effectively a flat tax. Flat taxes always hit those with the least the hardest. In a cost-of-living crisis, expecting someone on minimum wage or Universal Credit to pay the same as someone on a six-figure salary makes no sense.
To make things worse, failure to pay can lead to criminal prosecution. Every year, thousands of people, mostly women, end up in court over this. It’s outdated and punitive.
There’s a Better Way
I think the BBC should be funded through general taxation. That would mean:
- Everyone still contributes, but those with more would pay more
- No need for aggressive letters or enforcement officers
- No criminal records for watching TV
- Lower admin costs
- A more equal and modern system
Several countries have already moved in this direction. Norway, Finland, and Sweden all fund their public broadcasters through income tax. The BBC could do the same if the political will existed.
It’s Not About Opting Out
To be clear, I don’t watch live TV or BBC iPlayer, so I don’t need a licence. But I shouldn’t have to keep declaring that. I don’t have to tell Netflix I’m not a customer, or Sky, or The Times. The BBC should be publicly funded, not presume everyone owes them unless proven otherwise.
I’ll always support public service broadcasting. Just not through a system that punishes the poor to protect the rich.
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What’s Got You Most Hyped for a Reform UK Government?
What are people actually looking forward to if Reform wins the next General Election and forms a government?
Is it the generous tax cuts that will inevitably gut public services across the country, leading to the slow dismantling of everything from libraries to local councils, already held together by little more than duct tape and goodwill?
Maybe it’s the vision of a skeleton Civil Service, hollowed out in the name of “efficiency,” where job cuts are spun as progress and oversight becomes optional.
How about the long-rumoured privatisation of the NHS? Selling off the very institution people clap for, while quietly preparing us to pay American prices for insulin and A&E visits?
Perhaps you’re excited for chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-laced beef, as British food standards are sacrificed for post-Brexit trade deals that no one asked for.
There’s also the small matter of workers’ rights. What could be more liberating than losing your right to union protection, fair dismissal processes, or sick pay?
Then there’s the slow erosion of bodily autonomy, with hard-won reproductive rights under threat, framed as a return to “traditional values.”
And we can’t forget the overt bigotry that appears regularly in the words and tweets of many Reform candidates. This seems to be a feature, not a bug.
So I ask again, in all seriousness, with just a touch of sarcasm:
What is it you’re most looking forward to when Reform takes the reins?
Because I suspect the people clapping them into power may not be ready for what happens when the applause stops and the policies begin.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Do you agree, disagree, or have your own worries about a Reform government? Drop a comment below and let’s talk about it.