Work visa renewals will be impossible for those not meeting new criteria under Reform UK’s proposed immigration system, the party’s MP Robert Jenrick has confirmed. Speaking about the planned abolition of Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), Jenrick said: “If they fail to meet our criteria because they’re not in work or they’re not working as many hours, not earning enough money, then they won’t be able to renew their work visa, because ILR won’t exist, and they’ll be asked to leave.” The comments, made during a public discussion, are the clearest indication yet of how the party intends to enforce its radical overhaul of settlement and visa rules.
Under the plans, ILR – the permanent right to live and work in the UK, currently held by hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals – would be abolished entirely. No new grants would be made, and existing ILR status would be rescinded. All those who currently hold it would be required to reapply under a new system that replaces settlement with a five-year renewable visa. Jenrick’s warning directly addresses what happens if an applicant fails to meet the conditions at the point of renewal: they will not be allowed to stay and will be expected to leave the country.
New visa criteria and their implications
The new five-year renewable visas would come with a significantly higher salary threshold, set at approximately £60,000 per year – nearly double the current UK median salary of around £39,000. This threshold applies to renewals as well as initial applications, meaning workers in lower-paid sectors or those who have reduced their hours would be at immediate risk of non-renewal. The party also proposes stricter rules on criminality and tax compliance, alongside higher English language proficiency requirements. Additionally, applicants must not have previously accessed any form of public funds.
The retrospective application of these rules is a central and contentious element. Existing ILR holders – people who have built lives, careers and families in the UK over many years – would be forced to reapply and meet the new criteria. Legal experts have warned that such retrospective changes would almost certainly require an Act of Parliament, as ILR is governed by the Immigration Act 1971, and could face serious human rights challenges.
Beyond salary and compliance, Reform UK intends to dramatically limit the ability of migrants to bring dependants. The number of dependants allowed would be tied to the applicant’s earnings, with suggestions that one dependent would be permitted for those earning over £50,000, two for those earning over £75,000, and more for incomes above £100,000. By comparison, the current minimum salary for a work visa sponsorship is £42,000, and the median UK salary is about £39,000, meaning many workers would be unable to bring even a single family member.
The party also proposes a new “Acute Skills Shortage Visa” (ASSV) for jobs in sectors with perceived skill shortages. A condition of this visa is that businesses must train one domestic worker for each foreign worker hired under the scheme. However, the overall direction of the policy is to restrict long-term settlement: the timeframe for becoming a British citizen would be extended from an average of six years to seven years, although the party has not clarified how this would work given the abolition of ILR, which has traditionally been a step on the path to citizenship.
Consequences and enforcement
Those who fail to meet the renewal criteria – or who are deemed to have entered illegally – would face removal under a new enforcement apparatus. Reform UK has proposed creating a “UK Deportation Command”, modelled on the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, with the capacity to detain significant numbers of migrants and deport them. The party’s stated aim is to deport hundreds of thousands of people, beginning with a first phase focused on single men in their 20s who arrived illegally.
To enable this, the party says it would leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and replace it with a “British Bill of Rights”. It also plans to “disapply” the 1951 Refugee Convention, the UN Convention Against Torture, and the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention. Such moves would have profound legal and political consequences, including for the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement.
In addition, Reform UK has said it would review all asylum grants issued over the past five years and revoke them from anyone who entered the UK illegally or overstayed their visa. Only British nationals would be permitted recourse to public funds, removing the current entitlements of certain visa holders, EEA nationals and ILR holders.
The party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, has defended the policies in public debates, arguing that “if you’re here illegally, you can’t expect to stay here forever.” He has also accused the Church of England of interference over its criticism of the asylum plans. However, internal disagreements have surfaced: party chairman Zia Yusuf and MP Robert Jenrick engaged in a public online spat over the specifics of the immigration policy, indicating potential fissures within the leadership on how far and how fast to push the changes.
Critics – including legal experts and political opponents – have described the proposals as “unworkable” and “unacceptable”, pointing to the immense administrative and logistical strain of requiring hundreds of thousands of people to reapply for visas. The detention capacity currently available appears far lower than the numbers the party proposes to detain and deport. Economic impact assessments warn that an exodus of migrant workers could damage sectors such as the NHS and social care, drive up labour shortages and increase inflation. The “detect, detain, deport” policy has also been challenged on moral and practical grounds, including the prospect of sending money to authoritarian regimes to facilitate removals.
Opinion polling has, at times, placed Reform UK in a strong electoral position, with a realistic chance of forming the next government either alone or in coalition. Labour has also proposed tightening immigration rules, including extending the ILR qualifying period to ten years, but Reform’s package is notably more hardline. Nigel Farage, the party leader, has spoken of a “Boris wave” of immigration, suggesting a dramatic and uncontrollable influx of legal migrants that he argues must be reversed. The internal spat between Yusuf and Jenrick, however, raises questions about whether the party can present a united front on the specifics of what remains the most radical immigration programme on the British political table.
