Rejected petition Don’t apply ILR 10-year rule to people already on 5-year path – protect trust

Many professionals moved to the UK and built their lives based on the 5-year ILR rule. Applying the new 10-year requirement retroactively would unfairly disrupt lives, damage trust, and punish those who followed the rules in good faith—impacting families, careers, and long-term plans.

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The Government’s White Paper aims to reduce net migration and strengthen control, which is understandable. However, retroactively extending the ILR qualifying period from 5 to 10 years unfairly penalizes those who legally moved under existing rules, disrupting lives, careers, and integration. Such changes undermine trust, legal certainty, and damage the UK’s reputation as a fair society. It risks alienating hardworking, integration-committed, and determined residents.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

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You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:

Keep the 5-Year ILR pathway for existing Skilled Worker visa holders
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/727360

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 16 May 2025
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