TUC warns settlement wait could stretch to 10 or 15 years for care workers
14 Sep 2026
If you're on a Health and Care Worker visa, a warning from the TUC this week is worth watching, even though nothing has changed yet. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak has called on Andy Burnham to overhaul Home Office migration reforms that could force more than 300,000 low-paid workers, including many care workers, to wait 10 to 15 years for the legal right to remain in the UK.
Many care workers came to the UK after the Covid pandemic on the understanding that they could apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. Nowak said it is "fundamentally unfair to change the rules when people came to this country with one set of expectations." He also said longer waits stop people from planning their lives, asking "how the hell do you plan? Can you buy a house? What does that mean for your employment? Do you have kids?"
The Home Office has confirmed it is looking at reforms to double the standard qualifying period for settlement to 10 years for most migrants, with shorter routes for people it says contribute most to the UK. Nowak pointed out that social care already has 111,000 unfilled vacancies, and argued that longer waits could make staffing shortages worse rather than better.
This is a proposal, not a confirmed rule change, so nothing in your current application timeline is different yet. If you're on a Health and Care Worker visa working towards settlement, keep an eye on further announcements, since any change to the qualifying period could affect how long you need to wait before you can apply for ILR.
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