On 12 May 2025 the government published a white paper policy document called Restoring control over the immigration system. The document proposed some changes to make it harder to move to and settle in the UK, with a view to reducing immigration.

A white paper does not, by itself, alter the law or the immigration rules. It puts forward changes the government intends to make in future. This means that not all the details about these proposals, including when they will come into force, are available yet.

What changes does the May 2025 immigration white paper propose?

The document covers both high-level principles and specific policy changes. Among its many proposals, eight are detailed enough to be quantified: that is, civil servants have included some rough illustrations of how much they might reduce net migration (PDF).

These eight proposals are:

  • Shortening the list of jobs for which employers can sponsor a worker from overseas for a Skilled Worker visa. Jobs assessed as being medium-skilled – RQF level 3 – cannot be filled from overseas unless the Migration Advisory Committee recommends an exemption and the industry is demonstrating efforts to recruit domestically.
  • Ending an existing exemption for social care workers: employers will no longer be allowed to recruit them from abroad.
  • Exploring a levy on English universities’ income from international student fees.
  • Making it harder for universities to keep their licence to sponsor student visas by introducing tougher compliance rules.
  • Reducing the standard length of the Graduate visa, for international students to stay on and work in the UK, from two years to 18 months.
  • Stricter English language rules: higher standards for those already taking language tests, and requiring the partners of people moving to the UK on work visas to have basic English to qualify for a ‘dependant’ visa.
  • Increasing the standard qualifying period for permanent residence (also known as indefinite leave to remain or settlement) from five to ten years, with some people qualifying sooner based on criteria yet to be decided.
  • Making it easier for people to come to the UK on certain visas aimed at highly skilled migrants, such as the Global Talent and High Potential routes.

Most of these changes can be made by amending the immigration rules. They do not require an act of Parliament or statutory instrument, except for the levy on student fees.

The white paper is a wide-ranging document and covers many other issues in addition to the examples above. These include a new Labour Market Evidence Group, reforms to family and dependant visas, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and deportation of foreign national offenders.

When will the changes be coming in?

There is no fixed date for any of the white paper’s proposals to come into force. An accompanying press release says they will come in “over the course of this Parliament” (so between now and 2029) but some will be introduced “in the coming weeks”.

Much of the media attention and questions from constituents have focused on the proposal to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain. The white paper says there will be a consultation on this “later this year”, meaning that there will not be changes straight away.

Will migrants have to wait ten years for indefinite leave to remain?

The standard qualifying period for permanent residence will be increased under the government’s proposals. The default will be settlement after ten years, rather than five years at present, but some people will be able to qualify earlier. Under this “earned settlement” proposal, there will be a shorter pathway than ten years for people who have made “Points-Based contributions to the UK economy and society” (paragraph 266).

The white paper does not say how these points would be earned or how much of a reduction on the ten-year qualifying period would be available. These issues are likely to be covered in the promised consultation.

Which visa categories will be affected by the longer qualifying period?

There are explicit exemptions for partners of British citizens, who will continue to qualify for settlement after five years, and for victims of domestic abuse (see paragraph 265). In addition, people with post-Brexit residence rights under the EU Settlement Scheme have the right to permanent residence after five years under Article 15 of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.

The government has not confirmed whether other immigration routes with a five-year pathway to permanent residence will be exempt. Asked whether people with a Hong Kong British National (Overseas) visa are going to be affected, the minister for migration and citizenship replied “we will be consulting on the earned settlement scheme later this year and will provide details of how the scheme will work after that, including which immigration routes it will apply to” (PQ 51500, answered on 20 May 2025).

Will people already in the UK have to wait longer for indefinite leave to remain?

The government has not confirmed whether people already in the immigration routes affected will have to wait longer for settlement, as opposed to the change only applying to those arriving after the implementation date.

The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, was asked about this during a statement about the white paper on 12 May 2025. She replied:

We will set out further details of the earned settlement and citizenship reforms later this year, and we will consult on them. There will be plenty of opportunity for people to comment on and consider the detail, but it is important that we extend the sense of contributions and the points-based system to those reforms as well (HC Deb 12 May 2025 c53).

[…]

We want the settlement rules to be amended as swiftly as possible and to apply widely, but we will consult on the detail, and it is right that we do so (HC Deb 12 May 2025 c68).

The white paper’s technical annex suggests that the Home Office does envisage the change affecting those already here: “a number of those currently in the UK are likely to leave due it taking longer to gain settled status” (PDF, paragraph 11). Similarly, the BBC and Financial Times have reported (citing unattributed government sources) that this is the government’s intention, possibly with mitigations for people who are already close to qualifying for settlement.

MPs have been asking questions on this issue but the responses so far have reiterated that it will be addressed as part of the consultation process: see for example HC Deb 2 June 2025 cc15-16 and PQ 52969, answered on 21 May 2025.

Will MPs be voting on the white paper changes?

Unlikely, in most cases. Revision of visa and settlement regulations is done through statements of changes to the Immigration Rules. A statement of changes takes effect automatically unless either the House of Commons or House of Lords actively votes against it within 40 days. 

Usually there is no vote and the government is not obliged to make time for one in the Commons even if MPs table motions against the changes. There was no vote on the Conservative government’s significant changes to visa rules in 2024, although there were several non-binding debates.

Certain elements of the white paper proposals, such as the levy on international student fees and changes to citizenship rules, do require primary legislation (an act of Parliament) and therefore the endorsement of MPs.

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