The organisation Skill Migrants Alliance have said that they are ready to seek a judicial review of the Home Office’s plans to extend the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) from five years to 10 if it goes ahead.
The group has already raised £25,000 and taken advice from a barrister in preparation for a legal fight, The National has learned.
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While the group claims to have over 8000 members, any judicial review would likely be brought by a small number of representative claimants on behalf of the wider group.
The root of the argument? That changing the rules retrospectively for people who moved to the UK under a clearly defined five-year pathway would be unlawful, unfair and devastating for those who have built their entire lives around that promise.
“If the UK Government implements the rules as it is, we will definitely go for the judicial review,” said Nilan Manoj, a Scotland-based organiser who helped set up the campaign.
“It looks so unfair to us, so unfair to our children.”
He added: “We think that it’s not fair for the law to be implemented retrospectively. So, we’re going to fight back.”
Shabana Mahmood (Image: PA)
The proposed reforms – part of a wider package of immigration changes announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood (above) in November last year – have been widely panned as “inhumane” and “draconian”.
The UK Government’s formal public consultation on the proposals ran until February 12 with legal and immigration experts saying that it could be implemented as soon as April.
This could include changes to settled status, which grants the right to live and work in the UK permanently, without dependence on employer sponsorship.
But for those who could be affected – up to 2.2 million people, including roughly 300,000 children – it represents something much more personal: The shifting of goalposts halfway through a life plan.
Legitimate expectation?
The workers preparing legal action didn’t misread the small print.
They arrived in the UK and have lived here for years – transitioning from student visas to skilled worker routes, paying taxes and starting families – with the understanding that after five years they could apply for settled status.
In legal terms, those supporting this campaign are relying in part on the doctrine of “legitimate expectation”, a public law principle ensuring fairness by holding public authorities to their promises.
“The immigration rules clearly stated that skilled workers and their dependents could apply for ILR after five years. This was a legitimate expectation, not an assumption. We built our future around this framework,” care worker Udeni Gajanayeke and her husband Keerthi Weerasekera told The National.
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“On that basis, we made long-term financial and family commitments in the UK and planned our careers, our child’s education, and our future settlement based on the five-year timeline.”
For many, the UK has also simply become home and now occupy crucial positions propping up the struggling care sector and even the NHS.
For example, Ahsan Raza Sabri, who moved to the UK from Pakistan in 2020 as a postgraduate student, has worked since 2021 for the NHS, supporting technical systems that help hospitals in London operate effectively.
But now, his future has been uprooted.
“Over the past several years, I have paid taxes, followed immigration rules, and built my life in the UK in full compliance with the law. During this time, I married and brought my spouse to the UK, and we organized our future around the clearly established five-year pathway to ILR,” he said.
Sabri added: “[It] feels like the rules are being changed after we have already committed our lives to them.
“We do not ask for special treatment. We ask only that the rules under which we began our journey are honoured.”
The care sector relies on migrant workers (Image: The Herald)
For Thushari Randima and her husband, these proposed changes lump further pressure at an already stressful time.
“I am currently pregnant, and our baby is due in March,” she told The National. The couple also have a five-year-old daughter.
“Our family relocated to the United Kingdom in December 2023 after making major life decisions based on the immigration rules in place at that time,” Randima added.
“In order to migrate lawfully, I resigned from my permanent nursing position, giving up long-term career security and benefits. My husband also left his government employment so that we could relocate together as a family. These were irreversible decisions made in good faith, based on a clear expectation of a stable pathway to settlement.”
She said that if these changes had been known before they moved to the UK, they would have made a different decision.
“Instead, we now face ongoing instability at a particularly vulnerable time, while raising a young child and preparing to welcome a new baby,” Randima added.
“This situation is not simply a policy matter for us. It affects our children’s security, our family’s wellbeing, and our ability to plan a stable future. I share my story to highlight the real impact of policy changes on families who relied on existing rules and made life-altering decisions in good faith.”
“This is impacting our chances of having a child”
For some families affected by these changes, it is even impacting on the very possibility of having children.
Deepa Natarajan and her husband Vinoth Sekar (above) have been living in the UK for over four years on a skilled worker visa and had expected to apply for ILR in October 2026.
“We consider the UK our future home. Based on the clear pathway to settlement that existed when we came, we made major life decisions here, including planning to start a family, committing long-term financial responsibilities, and building our careers,” she told The National.
Natarajan said that the proposed changes, however, even impact on their ability to pursue fertility treatment.
“When I sought fertility treatment in the UK, I was unable to access certain options due to my immigration status and was required to explore alternatives at my own expense,” she said.
“I also considered undergoing treatment abroad, but this required an extended absence from the UK, which could affect my immigration status and employment.”
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For this reason, Natarajan explained, they were forced to pause their treatment plans and decided to wait until they obtained a settlement – when such limitations would no longer apply.
“[But] under the new proposals, we now face the possibility of waiting several additional years before obtaining settlement. This would significantly delay our ability to pursue treatment. As fertility is time-sensitive, this delay may greatly reduce our chances of having a child,” she said.
“For us, this is not simply a policy change. It directly affects one of the most personal aspects of our lives, our ability to start a family. After years of living and contributing to the UK, these uncertainties are already causing significant emotional and personal strain.”
Natarajan called on the UK Government to reconsider, adding: “Immigration rules should not place families in a position where they must choose between maintaining lawful status and pursuing the opportunity to have children.”
Preparing for judicial review
These are just a few of the testimonies from the hundreds of thousands of people set to be affected by these changes, many of whom have joined Skill Migrant Alliance.
Campaign organisers from Skill Migrant Alliance have said they are documenting case studies and coordinating with legal representatives in preparation for legal action.
“Our aim is to ensure fairness, protection for families, and respect for the expectations under which we came to the UK,” a statement from the organisation reads. “
We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for fairness, consistency, and respect for the expectations under which we came.”
Legal challenges to immigration policy are not uncommon but the scale of this potential action – uniting healthcare workers, IT specialists, carers and other sponsored employees – sets it apart as significant.
Until then, thousands of families remain in limbo – working shifts in hospitals, care homes and businesses across the UK.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary has set out her plans for the biggest legal migration reforms in 50 years.
“It is a privilege not a right to settle in the UK and it must be earned. We are reforming a broken immigration system to prioritise contribution and integration.”