2nd November 2026

Women for Refugee Women is deeply concerned by the Government’s decision to press ahead with plans that would make make settlement significantly harder to access for people granted refugee status in the UK.  

Despite extensive evidence submitted by civil society organisations, people with lived experience, and members of the public warning of the harmful consequences of these proposals, the Government has chosen to double down on an approach that will deepen insecurity and hardship for thousands of people.  

Settlement should not be a reward contingent on contribution. It provides the stability people need to recover from trauma, rebuild their lives, contribute to their communities and plan for the future. For women who have fled war, persecution, trafficking, and sexual and gender-based violence, the certainty of settlement can be life-changing.  

Extending the qualifying period for settlement to 20 – or even 30 years – risks having a particularly severe impact on refugee and migrant women. Women seeking safety already face significant barriers to accessing employment, childcare, education and specialist support, often because they carry primary caring responsibilities or lack access to affordable childcare. An ‘earned settlement’ model risks entrenching these gender inequalities by making it harder for women to meet the criteria required to secure permanent status. International evidence demonstrates the real risk of this approach. Following similar changes in Denmark in 2015, the number of women granted permanent residence almost halved by 2021, with particular damaging impacts on mothers and survivors of gender-based violence. 

The proposals are especially punitive for people who arrive in the UK through so-called ‘irregular’ or ‘illegal’ routes, who could face a 30-year wait for settlement simply because of the route they were forced to take to reach safety. Yet for most people seeking asylum there is no safe route available to the UK and no way to apply for asylum from overseas. Many are left with no choice but to make dangerous journeys in order to survive.  

Lengthening the route to settlement will not prevent dangerous journeys. It will simply punish those who have already survived persecution, violence and displacement, forcing them to live with prolonged uncertainty about the future.  At the same time, the safe routes currently available remain far too limited to provide meaningful alternatives for most people in need of protection. Rather than creating new barriers to settlement, the Government should focus on expanding safe routes and ensuring that people can access protection without risking their lives.  

Secure immigration status enables people to put down roots, find work, pursue education, support their families, and participate fully in society. By delaying access to settlement, these proposals risk prolonging anxiety, exclusion and hardship for people who have already been recognised as needing protection. This will undermine integration, weaken family stability and entrench poverty and insecurity.  

These plans are not only ineffective and unjust. They are deeply cruel and divisive.  

Carenza Muggleton-Arnold, Head of Campaigns at Women for Refugee Women says:  

“These proposals are an attack on the right for refugees to rebuild their lives in safety. 

Settlement is the foundation that allows people to rebuild their lives after experiences of persecution, violence and displacement.  For refugee women, many of whom are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, stability and security are essential to recovery. Instead, these proposals would trap women in uncertainty, placing them at risk of further harm, exploitation or abuse.  

The Government’s proposals also ignore a basic reality: for the majority of people seeking asylum, safe routes simply do not exist. People should not be punished for dangerous journeys when there was no safe alternative available – this is absurd. 

Rather than creating a two-tier system that keeps people granted refugee status in limbo, the government should expand safe routes and ensure that everyone who needs protection can access safety, security and a permanent place to call home.” 

For press enquiries, please contact press@refugeewomen.co.uk  or +44 (0)7518 397761.