Shabana Mahmood has dropped plans to make migrant care workers wait 15 years for permanent settlement in the UK, LBC reports. She unveiled the changes to the immigration system in the House of Commons on Monday.

Under the new plans, foreign care workers already in the UK who earn at least £25,000 a year will have to wait five years to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, LBC reports. The Guardian reports that the five-year route applies to care workers who arrived before May 2025.

The new norm for most workers will be a 10-year wait, the Guardian reports. Under the original plans, 799,000 people would have had their settlement delayed. Under the updated version, the figure drops to 517,000, the Guardian says.

High earners and some visa holders will be able to apply after three years, the Mirror and LBC report. Doctors, nurses, teachers and people earning over £50,271 will be able to apply after five years, LBC says.

People who arrive on small boats will have to wait 20 years, rising to 30 years if they are not in work or study, LBC and the Mirror report.

Anyone seeking to settle will need a clean criminal record, a high standard of English and no debt owed to the government, LBC reports.

"The right to live in this country forever must now be earned. It will no longer be automatic," Mahmood said to MPs, according to the Mirror. She said the changes would save billions of pounds from the welfare bill, the Mirror reports.

The plans had drawn criticism from Labour MPs and some cabinet ministers, the Guardian reports. Marley Morris of the Institute for Public Policy Research said other workers who arrived before May 2025 were not protected. "The government could well be accused of moving the goalposts," he said, according to the Guardian.