People granted asylum in the UK will face a 20-year wait before being allowed to apply for permanent settlement under plans set to be announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on Monday. The proposal marks one of the most significant changes to the UK’s asylum system in years.
The government is preparing the overhaul as part of a broader effort to reduce small boat crossings and bring down rising asylum claim numbers. Ministers argue that the current framework encourages long-term settlement, while the new system is meant to impose far stricter conditions.
Under the plans, asylum will be granted only on a temporary basis, with refugee status subject to regular reviews. Those whose home countries are later judged to be safe would be instructed to return rather than remain in the UK indefinitely.
At present, refugee status is granted for five years, after which individuals can apply for indefinite leave to remain. Mahmood wants to shorten the initial period to two-and-a-half years before a review is triggered, while simultaneously extending the route to permanent residency from five years to 20.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mahmood said the reforms were “designed to essentially say to people: do not come to this country as an illegal migrant, do not get on a boat”. She warned that “Illegal migration is tearing our country apart”, insisting the government must work to “unite our country”.
“If we don’t sort this out, I think our country becomes much more divided,” she told the newspaper.
The approach draws heavily on Denmark’s model, where a Social Democrat-led government has introduced some of Europe’s toughest asylum and immigration policies.
In Denmark, refugees receive temporary residence permits, usually valid for two years, and must effectively reapply for asylum when those permits expire.
Mahmood’s proposals are expected to spark debate within Labour, with some MPs likely to oppose the tougher stance.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said it was “right the government looks at new ways to fix the disorderly asylum system created by the Conservatives”, but warned that Labour “shouldn’t kid itself that these measures are an alternative to processing claims quickly so we can remove those with no right to be here”.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, argued the 20-year wait would not deter migration but instead “leave people in limbo and in tense anxiety for many, many years”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “We need a system that is controlled and is fair, and the way you do that is you make decisions fairly, in a timely fashion, and if someone is found to be a refugee, they go on and they contribute to our communities and they pay back.”
Government data shows 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the 12 months to March, a 17% rise compared with the previous year. Solomon said public concern over the numbers reflects a growing sense that “the government has forgotten about their communities”.
According to Home Office figures, 1,069 migrants arrived in the UK in the past seven days. More than 39,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far in 2025, exceeding totals for both 2024 (36,816) and 2023 (29,437), though slightly below the figure recorded at this point in 2022 (39,929).
