‘This nation wanted us – why is it altering migration guidelines to penalise us now?’

Care workers who came to the UK to work in the crisis-hit sector have pleaded with Shabana Mahmood to ‘look at the world through our lenses’ and reverse changes to migration rules

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When Lydia Kabute came to the UK in 2023, she set to work in a sector on the brink of collapse.

The country had a chronic shortage of care workers, and the Tory government turned to overseas recruitment to plug the gaps. In the three years that followed, Lydia found herself working 100-plus hour weeks, having pay withheld by unscrupulous visa sponsors and witnessing the harrowing treatment migrant workers face.

Unable to switch jobs without securing a new sponsor, she regularly slept in her car between shifts – leaving her with a painful back condition. Employers refused to pay her mileage despite having to make long journeys, and she and others faced the constant threat of having sponsorship – and with it their right to be in the UK – withdrawn as punishment for protesting.

Despite the adversity, the mum-of-two has faced since arriving from Kenya, Lydia prides herself on the quality of care she provides for her clients.

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But the 41-year-old, who now lives in Dorset, has been left reeling after the latest hammer blow. The Government now plans to extend the waiting time before she qualifies to settle in the UK from its current five to 15 years.

This will mean more years of uncertainty, as she and tens of thousands like her now face an additional decade before they get full freedom to move jobs and plan their lives in the UK. Proposals by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to change rules around indefinite leave to remain (ILR) and apply them retrospectively have sparked an outcry.

Lydia told The Mirror: “Why shift the goalposts from five years to 15 years? Did we do something wrong? Covid had ravaged everything, it had messed everything up (in the care sector). We came to help and assist. Remember, you (the UK Government) told us to come and help and you gave us the conditions. But now the goal has been shifted.”

Trade union Unison warns the rule change is morally wrong, and said it could deepen the crisis in social care. It says migrant staff make up nearly 30% of the sector’s workforce.

Asked what her message was for the Home Secretary, Lydia said: “Look to the world through our lens. See that we are not lazy. We are an integral component of this sector, we are paying our taxes. And morally, we integrate very well into the social setup.

“We are human beings just like anyone else. Why would you want to apply it retrospectively? It is very, very dehumanising. It shows that there is an aspect of the government that does not recognise the work we put in as migrant workers. Look back, reflect, see yourself or your family in our shoes and reconsider.”

Lydia said the Government must look at the way migrant workers are treated by their sponsors. In the three years since arriving in the UK, she told The Mirror, she has witnessed staff being sexually harrassed, bullied and denied pay.

In one case, she alleged, a pregnant woman was told she must choose between having an abortion or being forced to return to Kenya. She chose the latter.

“When you speak you’re doomed, and you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t,” she said. “For many the only way is to just adhere and conform and just do whatever they want, counting down the years because they (the Government) said five years.”

“Sponsoring companies might appear very good on the outside, but the cup is dirty on the inside.”

Lydia said her application to bring her two children to the UK had been turned out – a situation she branded “inhuman”. Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said: “Sadly, stories like Lydia’s are alarmingly common. Plans to increase the wait to 15 years before workers can apply to settle here are cruel and will do nothing to ease the staffing crisis in the care sector.

“The current sponsorship system isn’t fit for purpose. It traps care staff in jobs and allows unscrupulous employers to take advantage of them.”

The Government scrapped health and social care visas last July, arguing that this route was open to abuse. By last year nearly 500 care providers had had their licence to sponsor international staff suspended since 2022.

In 2023, the year Lydia arrived, over 145,000 health and social care visas were issued. Those who came to the UK this way need to apply for a new visa if they change jobs.

Care worker Michael, 57, who also came to the UK in 2023, told The Mirror that extending ILR to 15 years was deeply unfair. The care worker, from Nigeria and living in Wolverhampton, said the change would tie staff to their employers for longer, and would also mean their children would face higher student fees – despite planning their lives based on current rules.

It would also put people off taking out mortgages or investing because of the uncertainty, Michael said.

“It is un-British and unfair for the goalposts to be changed. We uprooted our lives, took our children out of school, some of us have been here for three years, four years, and now we have to wait 15 years for ILR.

“I don’t think that is proper.” And he added: “Before we came we heard that British people are fair and compassionate.”

More than 100 Labour MPs have voiced their opposition to the changes to ILR, and former deputy PM Angela Rayner has dubbed the proposal “un-British”.

Ms Mahmood has argued migrants must earn the right to settle in the UK. Under her proposals, which are currently being weighed out, high earners and NHS workers would be fast-tracked, while those in lower paid jobs would face longer waits.

People will be able to cut their waiting time by doing volunteering work in their communities, she said. The Government argues that unless ILR rules are changed retrospectively, 1.6million people will get an automatic right to settle by 2030.

Ms Mahmood has said that doing so is a “privilege not a right” and told MPs: “I think at five years that’s actually quite a short period before people can be permanently settled in the country with all of the benefits that that brings.

“I think it’s right therefore that we extend it. And in the range of proposals that we’ve set out there are some things that could help you bring that qualifying period down.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We will always welcome those that come to this country and contribute to our national life. But the privilege of living here forever should be earned, not automatic.

“But between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement.

“The Government will double the route to settlement from five to ten years. As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those in the UK today but have not received settled status. We are currently reviewing the 200,000 responses and will outline our response in due course.”