Immigrants Will Have to Pass ‘Good Citizen’ Test to Stay in UK

Home Secretary said immigrants must speak English to a high standard, among tougher new rules, to obtain the right to remain in the country.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP speaks on stage during day two of the Labour Party conference at ACC Liverpool in Liverpool, England, on Sept. 29, 2025. Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Immigrants coming to the United Kingdom will have to wait longer and fulfil tougher new citizenship criteria to be granted the right to remain indefinitely under proposals outlined by the government.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Monday that “division within this country will grow” if her party fails to engage with people’s concerns about soaring levels of immigration.

Mahmood set out a series of conditions for those seeking indefinite leave to remain status. The Home Office has not confirmed whether the policy will affect those immigrants who already have a settled status in the UK.

Under the Home Office’s proposed changes, immigrants seeking the right to remain in the UK will have to demonstrate they can speak English to a high standard, have a “spotless” criminal record, are working, paying national insurance, and not claiming any benefits.

Referring to people who took part in a recent protest against mass immigration in London on Sept. 13, the home secretary, who is the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, said: “It would be easy to dismiss this as nothing but an angry minority, heirs to the skinheads and the Paki-bashers of old, and make no mistake, some were.

“But to dismiss what happened that day would be to ignore something bigger, something broader, that is happening across this country.

“The story of who we are is contested.”

Losing the Working Class

Official figures put the attendance at the September rally, organized by political activist Tommy Robinson, at around 150,000 people.

In her speech, delivered to party delegates as part of its annual conference, Mahmood said that working-class communities will turn away from Labour and “seek solace in the false promises of [Reform UK leader Nigel] Farage” if the government fails to do more to address widespread immigration concerns.

She said: “They will turn towards something smaller, something narrower, something less welcoming, and the division within this country will grow.

“So the challenge we now face is this—not just to win the next election but to keep the country together and to fight for our belief in a greater Britain, not a littler England.”

Protesters wave Union Flag and St George's flags during the Unite The Kingdom rally on Westminster Bridge by the Houses of Parliament in London on Sept. 13, 2025. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The freshly appointed home secretary, who has been in the role for just three weeks, told the party, “Patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller, something more like ethno-nationalism.”

A public consultation on the proposed changes to the indefinite leave to remain status will be launched later this year, the government said.

‘Good Character’ Test

In its white paper published in May, Labour pledged to double the amount of time most immigrants have to wait before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain in the UK to 10 years.

Under the new proposals, this timeframe could be accelerated if people can demonstrate they have undertaken voluntary work in their local communities, Mahmood said.

Currently, most people who enter Britain on time-limited work visas can make an application for indefinite leave to remain after five years.

There is already a “good character” element to the application process, and immigrants are expected to demonstrate knowledge of English, Welsh, or Scottish Gaelic.

The majority of immigrants are not eligible to claim benefits until they have obtained settled status, which was granted to a large tranche of people post-Brexit in what was dubbed the “Boris Wave,” after then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who relaxed the criteria for EU nationals.

Almost 10 percent of all universal credit benefits claimants are EU nationals with settled status, while another 2.7 percent of claimants have a non-EU permanent right to remain.

The new citizenship test is most likely to impact those who enter the country illegally and claim asylum.

Currently, some 120,000 people claiming asylum receive universal credit.

In a government release on Monday to coincide with the conference speech, the Home Office said the new “contribution-based” scheme would  “reduce net migration, boost integration and reduce pressure on public services.”

On Monday evening, addressing a fringe event away from the main conference hall, Mahmood was challenged on the policy, PA media reported.

She defended the decision to impose more stringent conditions on those seeking indefinite leave to remain, saying, “I think sometimes people might feel that adding conditionality maybe creates two tiers of citizenship potentially, or it’s asking too much of people.

“But what I would say is, first, I think it’s right that, as a country, we decide that before you are allowed to remain here for good, there’s some things that you have to do.

“And it’s a two-way street, there’s a reciprocal relationship that’s being created here.”

Nigel Farage, then leader of the UK Independence Party, now Reform UK leader, leaves The Northern & Shell Building in London, on April 17, 2015. Rob Stothard/Getty Images

‘Reciprocal Relationship’

Mahmood said at the fringe event, hosted by Spectator editor and Conservative politician Lord Michael Gove, she believed that anti-Muslim racism is now “on a scale that I’ve never known in my lifetime.”

She added: “But what is happening now is something much deeper and much more pervasive, and it does feel like it’s everywhere at the moment.”

The latest opinion polls, including one from Ipsos Mori, indicate that Reform UK has surged in popularity, with around 34 percent of people saying they would vote for them in the next general election, which is not set to take place until 2029.

After less than 18 months in government, Labour is languishing behind Reform at around 20–22 percent, while the Conservatives are polling between 14–17 percent.

Farage announced at the Reform conference earlier this month that he would abolish indefinite leave to remain altogether—a proposal that Starmer labelled as “racist.”

Reform made clear that its policy would apply to those with settled status in the UK, placing millions of people at risk of deportation.