UK tells blind Nigerian pensioner she can 'go home' to India after refusing settlement

Timeline newest first

1. Nov 14, 2026Home Office sources said corrective action is being taken to re-issue an updated refusal letter to Comfort.
2. Nov 14, 2026The Home Office rejected lawyers' application for Comfort, a blind 67-year-old Nigerian pensioner, to be granted indefinite leave to remain immediately.
3. Nov 14, 2026The Home Office's refusal letter told Comfort she could return to Nigeria and concluded her circumstances did not warrant immediate settlement.
4. Nov 14, 2026Freedom of information data obtained by Refugee and Migrant Justice showed a 103-year-old Pakistani applicant will not qualify for UK settlement until aged 123.
5. Nov 14, 2026Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced new settlement rules that increase some migrants' waits for UK settlement up to sixfold.
6. Nov 14, 2026Comfort was granted leave to remain in 2022 under the long residence rules after living in the UK since 2000.

Sources newest first

• UK tells blind Nigerian pensioner to go home to Indiatheguardian.com· 15h

  The Guardian reports that the Home Office told Comfort, a blind 67-year-old Nigerian pensioner who has lived in the UK for 26 years, she could "go home" to India, a country she has never visited, after refusing her immediate indefinite leave to remain. Under Shabana Mahmood's new settlement rules she may wait 20 more years, and her supporter Nick Beales calls the policy cruel and urges it be scrapped.

Background newest first

• Asylum law changes are causing refugee families like mine terrible worry | Lettertheguardian.com· 3d

  A refugee who came to the UK in 2007, received refugee permission only in June 2022 after Home Office delays, and was refused indefinite leave to remain writes that the government's newly announced earned settlement policy has caused his family enormous worry. He argues refugees already granted five-year routes should not be left uncertain, and asks the Guardian to investigate.
• ‘I feel free now’: Shabana Mahmood’s immigration shake-up provokes mixed emotionstheguardian.com· 8d

  A Guardian article reports mixed reactions to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's "earned settlement" plans, which would require five continuous years without benefits before indefinite leave to remain and could delay settlement for migrants like Aneisha Williams, who claims housing benefit, though care workers are offered a five-year route. The Home Office has also reversed refusals against Rasika Samarasinghe's family, and critics including Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol call the changes unfair.
• Mahmood accused of hardening rules for 200,000 successful asylum applicantstheguardian.com· 9d

  The Guardian reports that Shabana Mahmood's immigration plans will subject 200,000 successful asylum applicants to status reviews every 30 months and a 30-year settlement wait for refugees who arrived irregularly, despite her earlier reassurance that only illegal entrants who are not refugees would face the 30-year wait. The Refugee Council's Jon Featonby says the shifting positions will cause distress and decades of uncertainty, while the Home Office says there has been no policy change since last year's proposals.
• How irrational are Labour’s plans for migrant workers? To find out, read the small printtheguardian.com· 9d

  Frances Ryan's Guardian column argues Labour's visa policy is senseless: care workers must wait 5 or 15 years for indefinite leave to remain while a £125,000 solicitor is fast-tracked in three. It reports Shabana Mahmood's partial U-turn exempting an estimated 280,000 care workers after a union backlash, and cites campaigners' warnings that the extra five-year visa leaves migrants open to exploitation. Ryan calls the contribution-based policy blatant classism that rewards the wealthy and dismisses working-class, predominantly female labour, and notes IPPR research finding settling migrants are expected to boost the public purse by £115bn in taxes.
• Why the UK settlement rule changes are unjust | Letterstheguardian.com· 10d

  Guardian letter-writers including Jigyasa Agarwal, Lynn Sloman, Dr Elizabeth Hare, Srujalkumar Patel and a UK visa holder argue that Shabana Mahmood's plan to make skilled worker migrants earning below £50,000 wait 10 years to settle is unjust, penalising people who followed the rules, and could push families already facing deprivation into deeper poverty. Agarwal and Patel urge the government to stop measuring contribution by salary alone, while Hare says safe legal routes, not longer waits, would address small-boat crossings.
• UNHCR criticises UK’s 30-year ‘earned settlement’ plans for refugeestheguardian.com· 10d

  The Guardian reports that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's 'earned settlement' plan would make refugees who arrive by irregular routes, such as small boats, wait up to 30 years to settle in the UK, with a 10-year penalty and some reduction through work or study, while care workers get a five-year carve-out. The UNHCR says the extended qualifying period is likely to be detrimental to refugees' security and belonging, and Kamena Dorling of the Helen Bamber Foundation calls the policy inhumane and harmful to integration.
• Shabana Mahmood has barely softened her plans – Britain’s immigration regime is now a theatre of cruelty | Owen Jonestheguardian.com· 11d

  Owen Jones writes in the Guardian that Shabana Mahmood's immigration plans — doubling the settlement wait to 10 years, with 20- to 30-year waits for many refugees and a three-year path for those earning over £125,000 — make Britain's asylum system one of Europe's most punitive, and he notes Mahmood once called for a general amnesty for undocumented migrants. He quotes her New Statesman words from a refugee camp visit: 'You would run. I would run. They are running. We must do our part to help them.'
• UK to double wait for permanent residency, with exemptions for care workersaljazeera.com· 11d

  Al Jazeera reports that the UK will double to 10 years the wait for most foreign workers to qualify for permanent residency, with eligibility tied to income, disqualifications including criminal records and English requirements, and the rules applied retroactively from 2027. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said care workers and refugees on safe routes can settle after five years, while small-boat arrivals could wait up to 30 years, and that settlement 'should be earned', not automatic.
• The Guardian view on a migration U-turn: it still leaves unfair changes intact | Editorialtheguardian.com· 12d

  The paper's editorial covers Shabana Mahmood's partial retreat on lengthening the settlement wait for some foreign workers, though she keeps the principle of basing settlement on tax paid, English and "character". It argues pay differences should not determine how soon people can put down secure roots.
• Charities condemn proposal to make some refugees wait up to 30 years for settlement – as it happenedtheguardian.com· 12d

  The Guardian's politics live blog covers refugee charities' condemnation of Shabana Mahmood's proposal to make some refugees wait up to 30 years for settlement, alongside her softening of the 15-year settlement plan for care workers after a cabinet backlash. It also takes in Reform UK's racism row, Labour's split with the Greens, and reactions from Farage, the CBI, and unions.
• Petition: Keep 10-year Long Residence Route for people already living in the UKparliament.uk· 29d

  Vittorio Contardi's petition on petition.parliament.uk asks the government to retain the 10-year Long Residence settlement route and to stop any retrospective application of its proposed ILR changes to people already on it, arguing the route's replacement would be a breach of contract. It had 22,444 of the 100,000 signatures needed for a debate, with a government response due, and stays open until 16 April 2027.