Overview
- Refugee protection would become temporary, cut to about 30 months with regular reviews and returns required once home countries are judged safe.
- The legal duty to guarantee housing and weekly allowances would be revoked, making support discretionary and subject to factors such as ability to work or breaches of rules.
- Initial leave to remain would be shortened from five years to roughly two and a half years, and those who enter legally would face a 10‑year route to settlement.
- Ministers plan capped safe and legal pathways identified through the UN, including expanded community sponsorship, a talent and skills route, and a study route with fast‑track processing.
- The Home Office frames the package as restoring control and targeting small‑boat crossings, while refugee groups warn of prolonged limbo and Conservatives and Reform UK argue the measures do not go far enough.