Rasika Samarasinghe (left) with his wife and children. The Home Office has reversed its refusal to let his family remain in the UK as his dependants. Photograph: Courtesy of Samarasinghe familyView image in fullscreenRasika Samarasinghe (left) with his wife and children. The Home Office has reversed its refusal to let his family remain in the UK as his dependants.<\/p>\n
Photograph: Courtesy of Samarasinghe familySome relatives of British citizens say they feel left behind, but announcement has brought relief to many care workers\u201cThe only time we\u2019re regarded as human beings is when they need a lot of hands onboard, like during Covid. But after that, we\u2019re tossed away like we\u2019re some rubbish,\u201d Aneisha Williams says.Williams, 39, was months from qualifying for indefinite leave to remain after 10 years in the UK. But claiming housing benefit could delay her settlement for years under Shabana Mahmood\u2019s \u201cearned settlement\u201d plans.Under pressure from Labour MPs and unions, the home secretary this week offered qualifying care workers a five-year settlement route. But others, among them partners and former partners of British citizens, face continued uncertainty.Williams, a supermarket worker from London, married a British man in her native Jamaica and joined him in the UK in 2016.<\/p>\n
Her daughter, now 18, is British. During the Covid crisis, her marriage broke down, leaving them homeless while Williams was on a family life visa.Migrants with no recourse to public funds can have that restriction lifted in cases of hardship, as Williams did. Housing benefit transformed her life without affecting her settlement prospects at the time.View image in fullscreenShabana Mahmood told MPs this week of her plans involving indefinite leave to remain. Photograph: House of Commons\/PALast year, Mahmood proposed adding up to 10 years to the settlement qualifying period for benefit claimants.<\/p>\n
This week she said applicants must have spent five continuous years without relying on benefits.While Mahmood says family members of British citizens will retain existing settlement pathways, how that protection applies to people whose marriages have broken down or who claimed benefits remains unclear.\u201cWe were never told this would happen, and never would have taken the help if we did, even though my past situation was very grim,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI was due to qualify in a couple of months \u2013 now it could be another 10 years.\u201dMahmood\u2019s migration changes may harm women and children, Labour MP warnsRead moreResearch has found most people on the existing \u201c10-year route\u201d, which Williams is on, are Asian or Black. Williams added: \u201cIt\u2019s a racist policy \u2013 and it\u2019s like every other year they come up with something that makes you feel further hopeless.\u201dAshley, a civil servant from Sheffield who asked to use a pseudonym, arrived from the US in 2017 and moved from student and graduate visas to a spouse visa after marrying a British man in 2025. She expected to qualify in 2027 under the 10-year long-residence route, which the government plans to end. With transitional arrangements unclear, she fears waiting until 2030, by which time she estimates she will have spent \u00a325,000 on visa and healthcare charges.\u201cI\u2019m one of the privileged immigrants \u2013 from a white English-speaking country, I have a PhD.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m married to a British citizen. And it is still so unbelievably hard,\u201d she said.Mahmood\u2019s announcement brought relief to many care workers. Under the revised plans, those who entered the route before May 2025 and earn at least \u00a325,000 a year can qualify after five years, rather than the 15 originally proposed. Others face another five-year visa before settlement.Rasika Samarasinghe, who arrived from Sri Lanka in October 2022 and earns just over \u00a325,000 caring for elderly people, is planning a double celebration.<\/p>\n
As well as the settlement change, the Home Office has reversed its refusal to let his wife, a teaching assistant, and their three children, aged 12, nine and eight, remain in the UK as his dependants.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAfter sending the family \u201cgo home\u201d letters, the Home Office told them the refusal should be disregarded. The Guardian understands similar decisions affecting other care workers\u2019 families have also been reversed.\u201cI felt so shocked and hopeless when the Home Office said my wife and children could no longer stay here,\u201d Samarasinghe said. \u201cThe children are delighted they can stay at school with their friends. Now we can plan our future. I feel free now.\u201d His wife is organising a party for their church friends and everyone who supported them.The government began restricting care workers\u2019 family visas after the Home Office estimated in 2023 that about 120,000 dependants had joined 100,000 care worker applicants.Care workers have been barred from bringing family since March 2024, and overseas recruitment was banned from July 2025; Samarasinghe\u2019s family arrived before both.<\/p>\n
A Home Office spokesperson said it did not routinely comment on individual cases, but that applications initially rejected could be approved following a review.Naga Kandiah of MTC Solicitors welcomed the Home Office\u2019s U-turn, saying: \u201cThis is a hugely significant and positive outcome. This family came to the United Kingdom lawfully \u2026 We are delighted that this family can now move forward together with renewed hope, security and peace of mind.\u201dAmenzei Ogiemwonyia, a care worker who campaigned with the Unison union, said: \u201cWe organised and refused to be silent, and that\u2019s what the Fairer Visa Campaign was all about: standing up to the rightwing press, lies, propaganda and politics. Some of us are elated \u2013 but we still need to read the fine print.\u201dCampaigners remain concerned. Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, the chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, called the response, apart from the care-worker concessions, \u201cbitterly disappointing\u201d, and said it was \u201cdeeply unfair\u201d that some workers who came expecting a five-year route would now wait 10 years.<\/p>\n
The Home Office estimates that about 500,000 people will have to wait longer than five years for settlement, which officials say will save billions from the welfare bill.Explore more on these topicsImmigration and asylumShabana MahmoodHome OfficeHousing benefitCare workersHousingBenefitsnewsShareReuse this content<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rasika Samarasinghe (left) with his wife and children. The Home Office has reversed its refusal to let his family remain in the UK as his dependants. Photograph: Courtesy of Samarasinghe familyView image in fullscreenRasika Samarasinghe\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.tcjhomeaccents.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}