London, Sep 10 (PTI) A proposed doubling of the five-year timeline for overseas skilled workers, a visa category dominated by Indians, to qualify for settlement in the UK has been debated in Parliament after an e-petition against the plan attracted over 168,000 signatures.

Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), also referred to as settlement or permanent residency, is the first step before visa holders can apply for British citizenship.

An official consultation process is set to be launched by the British government after its ‘Immigration White Paper’ called for the ILR qualifying period to be extended to 10 years as part of measures to curb soaring migration figures.

"The Skilled Worker visa already puts people in a highly vulnerable position, subject to the whims of their sponsor. Doubling the time visa workers have to endure this precarity is needlessly punitive,” said Adis Sehic, Policy Manager at the Work Rights Centre charity.

“Our message to MPs in this debate is clear: ‘the Skilled Worker visa is already problematic. Subjecting people to it for longer is only going to increase the prevalence of migrant labour exploitation,” said Sehic.

The charity has been championing a petition on the Parliament website entitled ‘Keep the 5-Year ILR pathway for existing Skilled Worker visa holders’, which crossed the requisite 100,000 signatures mark to be debated by MPs.

During the Westminster Hall debate in London on Monday, British Indian MP Sojan Joseph was among those who urged that any changes to the ILR rules should not apply retrospectively to those already in the UK on a Skilled Worker visa.

“The certainty they had about their lives in the UK has been thrown into doubt, and now they cannot plan for the future,” said Joseph, a National Health Service (NHS) nurse turned MP from Kerala.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum in the Home Office, Alex Norris, responded to the parliamentary debate on behalf of the government to reiterate that finer details of the proposed changes will only follow a formal consultation process.

“It is a long-standing point of consensus across this place that settlement is a privilege and not a right,” said Norris.

"We know that settlement in the UK brings significant benefits, so the proposals that we have set out in the ‘Immigration White Paper’ reflect our view that people who benefit from settling in the UK should at first make a proportionate contribution… that is why, although we are setting a baseline qualifying period for settlement at 10 years, we will allow those who make meaningful contributions to reduce that period,” he said.

Under the UK’s work-migration system, only after five years of continuous residency in the UK can foreign skilled workers apply for ILR. This grants them the unrestricted right to work and social benefits, besides the option to apply for British citizenship and passport after one more year. The Work Rights Centre fears the current lack of clarity around whether the proposals would be applied retroactively to workers already in the UK has caused widespread concern and confusion.  The government has insisted that its stance will be clarified only after the official consultation process, expected later this year.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has indicated an overall harder line on immigration, including plans to suspend visas for countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants and visa overstayers.

"If countries refuse to take their citizens back, we will take action,” said Mahmood, releasing a joint statement this week alongside the Five Eyes intelligence sharing group comprising the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Their joint statement reads: “States have an obligation to recognise their citizens and issue travel and other identity documents where required, without undue delay. Where responsiveness and cooperation of receiving states is lacking, consequences may include appropriate adjustments to visa issuance to reflect this change to immigration risk, and other appropriate and measured action may be taken to preserve the integrity of our migration systems.” PTI AK ZH ZH