The biggest shake-up of Britain’s immigration system in nearly half a century will not affect a five-year pathway to permanent settlement for Hongkongers, the UK government has said.
The British government unveiled a major shift in its profile for legal migrants on Thursday, saying it was prioritising those contributing to the UK economy and playing by the rules, days after announcing the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades.
The government earlier announced it would double the permanent settlement qualifying period for migrants to 10 years, with reduced waits for those who made “a strong contribution to British life”.
The Home Office, which handles immigration issues, said that immediate family members of UK citizens and Hongkongers under the British National (Overseas) scheme were among those who would retain the existing five-year pathway to settlement.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the scale of arrivals in recent years had been unprecedented.
The Home Office said that because of record high levels of migration under the previous government, 1.6 million migrants were set to become eligible for settlement by 2030.
