₦airaland Forum

Raalsalghul:
One upside to this although unlawful is that Skilled worker visa holders have no more incentive to stick to the visa rules.

All the 'do not claim benefits or do not work more than 20 hours for another employer' rules: after all, why should I stick to my end of the bargain when you don't plan to stick to yours? Just thinking out loud here.

Worst case scenario you don't renew my visa after the five years of which then any right thinking person would have created options for themselves. just saying.

Didnt even think of it that way but lots of people will look to get as much from the system as possible before heading home

When is the exact deadline?

WanderingChild:
Watched the debate (on skip mode). What popped up for me was what the minister kept alluding to.

There are currently 1.3m+ people seeking council/social housing. 2.2m people will qualify for settlement between now and 2030 (I hope I got this right). The labour government's plan is 1.5m houses within this current government. This means that allowing these 2.2m+ people to qualify will overwhelm the system. Arguments that visa holders do not currently enjoy benefits was countered with data that ILR applicants are increasingly becoming dependent on benefits.

Arguments on stability was countered by the minister who argued that people on visas can access schooling, NHS, banking and financial services, own a home, go out and return without hassles etc.

Questions on how the sliding scale will work and answers provided by the minister evidenced what I had always thought. This government in reacting to Reform and the Conservatives proposed policies for which it would be difficult to set up objective frameworks to access people's suitability for earlier settlement.

My take is simple:
1. Immigrants on visas are screwed. As an immigrant on a visa, there will be no objective way to assess your suitability due to the variety and complexity of different people. I foresee another Windrush or post office scandal where judgements will be passed by case handling officers based on "discretion" or arbitrarily rather than objective rules.
2. This immigration issue will linger more than expected. I am now certain that there will be many court cases and immigration will be weaponised by the labour government to distract the population from their poor handling of the economy and closer ties with the EU. If Reform or Conservative win the next GE, I expect immigration to dominate the airwaves for a while. This is because the UK is screwed economically and anything to distract from that will be welcome.
3. settlement will be longer, harder, more expensive, subjective, uncertain and messy. Getting a plan B, C and even D is now crucial for anyone who is not looking to qualify for settlement in 2026. I believe the US is out of question in this case for Nigerians (due to the ban).
4. The government is hell bent on maintaining their stance. They may concede a little to give peers a sense of having a say but overall, delegated powers will be wielded to avoid peers voting on most of the dangerous and painful clauses.
5. That spouses and dependents will now be assessed separately is bonkers. Yes, I agree with the argument of poor integration from some dependents. I feel that this mitigation is really punishing. Maybe a higher language requirement and minimum work experience with verifiable employers (whatever that means), but the full shebang is kind of an overkill. Something that shows dependents as being productive (even acting as primary care for the kids) should be enough!

Objectively, the issues here faced by the UK government are resource allocation and optimisation on the one hand and pressure from Western countries on the other hand. The UK is facing severe headwind risks economically, and so qualifying more people with an already stretched infrastructure is bound to lead to lower service delivery and lower quality of life without investments in expanding and improving infrastructure. The challenge here is that the UK by being retrospective with this policy has lost any iota of trust. Immigrants cannot trust the government to not shift stance tomorrow. The issue of western countries pressure is also glaring. Western countries are coordinating tighter immigration policies, and the UK risks being seen as an outlier if it does not follow suit.

The moral aspect which has been argued here on Nairaland is the fact that social and care workers who are instrumental to supporting the sick, elderly and disabled folks across the UK are being penalised with longer qualifying periods of up to 15 years because the immigration system places a lower value on their services (proxied via their income) compared to folks in finance and IT who can earn higher and reduce their qualifying time. What is instructive to note here is that the overwhelming majority of visa immigrants are in the social and care sectors. It would have been interesting if the majority of visa immigrants were in the tech or finance or IT sectors. It seems the government has banded everyone of them together and will punish that class since they make up the majority of visa immigrants - practical but immoral. This is quite funny because in the US, travelling nurses in California and New York are earning up to $11k/week (higher due to strikes). Same with Canada and Australia and New Zealand where medical personnel are well compensated. It seems remuneration in the UK is upside down.

Whatever the government decides going forward, I hope immigrants can navigate it and still lead fulfilling lives. It is a messed up world and like someone reminded me years ago on Nairaland, the world is going to hell in a handcart!

You have said it all, there is nothing left for me to add but I do believe folks earning well will have it easier and those on GTV.

It does seem like time on skilled worker visas will also no longer count towards the GTV route (not 100% sure about this but I am assuming due to the default 10 year route) as it now explicitly says "GTV holders should have spent 3 yrs - 5 yrson the route before their ILR app"

I

WanderingChild:
Watched the debate (on skip mode). What popped up for me was what the minister kept alluding to.

There are currently 1.3m+ people seeking council/social housing. 2.2m people will qualify for settlement between now and 2030 (I hope I got this right). The labour government's plan is 1.5m houses within this current government. This means that allowing these 2.2m+ people to qualify will overwhelm the system. Arguments that visa holders do not currently enjoy benefits was countered with data that ILR applicants are increasingly becoming dependent on benefits.

Arguments on stability was countered by the minister who argued that people on visas can access schooling, NHS, banking and financial services, own a home, go out and return without hassles etc.

Questions on how the sliding scale will work and answers provided by the minister evidenced what I had always thought. This government in reacting to Reform and the Conservatives proposed policies for which it would be difficult to set up objective frameworks to access people's suitability for earlier settlement.

My take is simple:
1. Immigrants on visas are screwed. As an immigrant on a visa, there will be no objective way to assess your suitability due to the variety and complexity of different people. I foresee another Windrush or post office scandal where judgements will be passed by case handling officers based on "discretion" or arbitrarily rather than objective rules.
2. This immigration issue will linger more than expected. I am now certain that there will be many court cases and immigration will be weaponised by the labour government to distract the population from their poor handling of the economy and closer ties with the EU. If Reform or Conservative win the next GE, I expect immigration to dominate the airwaves for a while. This is because the UK is screwed economically and anything to distract from that will be welcome.
3. settlement will be longer, harder, more expensive, subjective, uncertain and messy. Getting a plan B, C and even D is now crucial for anyone who is not looking to qualify for settlement in 2026. I believe the US is out of question in this case for Nigerians (due to the ban).
4. The government is hell bent on maintaining their stance. They may concede a little to give peers a sense of having a say but overall, delegated powers will be wielded to avoid peers voting on most of the dangerous and painful clauses.
5. That spouses and dependents will now be assessed separately is bonkers. Yes, I agree with the argument of poor integration from some dependents. I feel that this mitigation is really punishing. Maybe a higher language requirement and minimum work experience with verifiable employers (whatever that means), but the full shebang is kind of an overkill. Something that shows dependents as being productive (even acting as primary care for the kids) should be enough!

Objectively, the issues here faced by the UK government are resource allocation and optimisation on the one hand and pressure from Western countries on the other hand. The UK is facing severe headwind risks economically, and so qualifying more people with an already stretched infrastructure is bound to lead to lower service delivery and lower quality of life without investments in expanding and improving infrastructure. The challenge here is that the UK by being retrospective with this policy has lost any iota of trust. Immigrants cannot trust the government to not shift stance tomorrow. The issue of western countries pressure is also glaring. Western countries are coordinating tighter immigration policies, and the UK risks being seen as an outlier if it does not follow suit.

The moral aspect which has been argued here on Nairaland is the fact that social and care workers who are instrumental to supporting the sick, elderly and disabled folks across the UK are being penalised with longer qualifying periods of up to 15 years because the immigration system places a lower value on their services (proxied via their income) compared to folks in finance and IT who can earn higher and reduce their qualifying time. What is instructive to note here is that the overwhelming majority of visa immigrants are in the social and care sectors. It would have been interesting if the majority of visa immigrants were in the tech or finance or IT sectors. It seems the government has banded everyone of them together and will punish that class since they make up the majority of visa immigrants - practical but immoral. This is quite funny because in the US, travelling nurses in California and New York are earning up to $11k/week (higher due to strikes). Same with Canada and Australia and New Zealand where medical personnel are well compensated. It seems remuneration in the UK is upside down.

Whatever the government decides going forward, I hope immigrants can navigate it and still lead fulfilling lives. It is a messed up world and like someone reminded me years ago on Nairaland, the world is going to hell in a handcart!

💯

Agree with your analysis of the debate and proposed changes. Just a few points to add:

2. It was ever thus with the immigration debate in the UK. Immigration has been a key talking and political point since the early 2000s, especially when immigration levels ballooned (relative to previous years) under Blair. Labour was blamed for "open door/mass immigration" and this label stuck hard over the last 2 decades, partly why they are keen to now show that they can also be tough on immigration in order to regain the public's trust in this area.
However, even if they manage to bring net migration down to zero, immigration will remain a talking point - just like the weather lol

3. Spain appears to be more immigrant friendly - they are about to use a defacto royal decree to grant an amnesty to over 500k illegal migrants which would make them an outlier in the current western landscape. So perhaps Spain could become an option B,C or D for some for settlement.

In contrast, Sweden is apparently looking to legislate to revoke permanent residence from those previously granted refugee status,and move them to a temporary and less generous residence framework.

Care workers are definitely being targeted more harshly. This is a deliberate government strategy for these main reasons:

- The bulk of the "Boris wave" is made up of health and care visas. The government has estimated that for 40k care vacancies, over 600k care workers and their dependants came in over a 2 year period
- The lower wages in the sector increases the likelihood of future dependence on welfare. (In-work benefits such as universal credit can be accessed by those on low incomes)
- The large scale of immigration fraud and exploitation in the care sector which has received extensive coverage in the media
- over 95% of care workers are from Africa and south East Asia which makes immigration more "obvious" and has angered Brexiteers who feel betrayed that white migrants from Europe were replaced with black and brown migrants from the developing world.

However I don't think the government will go through with imposing a 15 year settlement timeline for care workers or <RQF 6 roles
as this will be seen as unduly harsh. It will likely be the 10 years baseline or perhaps slightly longer e.g 11/12 years.

Zahra29:
I

Care workers are definitely being targeted more harshly. This is a deliberate government strategy for these main reasons:

- The bulk of the "Boris wave" is made up of health and care visas. The government has estimated that for 40k care vacancies, over 600k care workers and their dependants came in over a 2 year period
- The lower wages in the sector increases the likelihood of future dependence on welfare. (In-work benefits such as universal credit can be accessed by those on low incomes)
- The large scale of immigration fraud and exploitation in the care sector which has received extensive coverage in the media
- over 95% of care workers are from Africa and south East Asia which makes immigration more "obvious" and has angered Brexiteers who feel betrayed that white migrants from Europe were replaced with black and brown migrants from the developing world.

However I don't think the government will go through with imposing a 15 year settlement timeline for care workers or <RQF 6 roles
as this will be seen as unduly harsh. It will likely be the 10 years baseline or perhaps slightly longer e.g 11/12 years.

100% facts

They know what they are doing and everything was explained in the MAC advisory stuff which has been rehashed here

Just waiting to see when its all in place so man will plan next moves accordingly. .. I hope there is a miracle somewhere but I wont bet on it as I have seen the stats and reasoning behind what they want to do

HustlaOfLagos:
100% facts

They know what they are doing and everything was explained in the MAC advisory stuff which has been rehashed here
Just waiting to see when its all in place so man will plan next moves accordingly. .. I hope there is a miracle somewhere but I wont bet on it as I have seen the stats and reasoning behind what they want to do

You never know...looks like it's still all to play for:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/03/dozens-of-labour-mps-threaten-rebellion-mahmood-migration/

HustlaOfLagos:
100% facts

They know what they are doing and everything was explained in the MAC advisory stuff which has been rehashed here

Just waiting to see when its all in place so man will plan next moves accordingly. .. I hope there is a miracle somewhere but I wont bet on it as I have seen the stats and reasoning behind what they want to do

Ah bros, you still dey wait?

Mentally, I've already concluded it's a done deal and had to rejig some of my short term plans. It's the long term ones that are a bit of headache and I believe even that will be resolved with time.

Even with the uncertainty, I believe opportunities will arise for those with ears to the ground.

Zahra29:
You never know...looks like it's still all to play for:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/03/dozens-of-labour-mps-threaten-rebellion-mahmood-migration/

Smokescreen!

PDP: people deceiving people.

Raalsalghul:
Ah bros, you still dey wait?

Even with the uncertainty, I believe opportunities will arise for those with ears to the ground.

Well, yes.. I am hanging on to the shred of hope that there will some common human decency around their decisions especially for folks in HC

Zahra29:
You never know...looks like it's still all to play for:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02/03/dozens-of-labour-mps-threaten-rebellion-mahmood-migration/

we shall see about that

Any word about when it will all be implemented? Me thinks by the end of Feb, everything will be set in stone. Full implementation, maybe April

My concern with all these proposals is the use of RQF 6 and below as a criteria. They are people sponsored in HC roles below degree level but earning within 30-45k. Like those working in complex care, acute mental health, senior support workers, emergency services etc. Most people working 3 to 4 shifts a week on these roles average over 30k.
Also, If the government is to peg the earned model on household income, some families could have over 80k.
Meanwhile @zahra what's the fate of MSc students who switched to HC roles. Does the government hope to keep them within such roles knowing that majority could get other roles that align to thiet skills but for sponsorship requirement.

HustlaOfLagos:
we shall see about that

Any word about when it will all be implemented? Me thinks by the end of Feb, everything will be set in stone. Full implementation, maybe April

My thoughts too

I have been getting feedback about my 4yr old in reception. I was told today that a yellow card has been issued. Laughs and plays at will even when told to sit and listen. Disobedience kind of thing generally.

At home I punish him to get him to behave.

How do I get him to behave in school?

WanderingChild:
I wish I can recommend books, unfortunately I am very limited here. I am more into research papers and patents. However, one book I can recommend is Technofeudalism: what killed capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis.

I hope you enjoy it.

research papers/ patents are much appreciated. Looking forward to it.

Brethren is this real or some kinda scam?
I got this sms now (at the end)
I can't remember getting any parking ticket of any sort
I have tried to view where exactly this happened?
I called them endlessly but no agent picking up the call they only kept repeating the option 1 to make a payment automatically, same is applicable on their website where you can only make payment. The worst, I saw its £170 to be paid...
How?

Please can someone help me cox this is getting man crazy... still have £20 outstanding payment at the garage where car was fixed? Which kind play be this nah?



Your parking charge ref. 507××××2 for R×××××M issued by UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD is overdue. It is your legal responsibility to settle this charge. Pay now to avoid potential late fees and clear your record today: paydrp.co.uk or call 0208 2346 775 to speak to an advisor quoting reference number 158××××2. We thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

Bwisewiturvote:
Brethren is this real or some kinda scam?
I got this sms now (at the end)
I can't remember getting any parking ticket of any sort
I have tried to view where exactly this happened?
I called them endlessly but no agent picking up the call they only kept repeating the option 1 to make a payment automatically, same is applicable on their website where you can only make payment. The worst, I saw its £170 to be paid...
How?

Please can someone help me cox this is getting man crazy... still have £20 outstanding payment at the garage where car was fixed? Which kind play be this nah?



Your parking charge ref. 507××××2 for R×××××M issued by UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD is overdue. It is your legal responsibility to settle this charge. Pay now to avoid potential late fees and clear your record today: paydrp.co.uk or call 0208 2346 775 to speak to an advisor quoting reference number 158××××2. We thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

Likely a scam. Have you done an online search?
Such tickets are based on ones V5C details and sent in the post.
Also, do the details match that of your car? I.e the reg no e.t.c?

Bwisewiturvote:
Brethren is this real or some kinda scam?
I got this sms now (at the end)
I can't remember getting any parking ticket of any sort
I have tried to view where exactly this happened?
I called them endlessly but no agent picking up the call they only kept repeating the option 1 to make a payment automatically, same is applicable on their website where you can only make payment. The worst, I saw its £170 to be paid...
How?

Please can someone help me cox this is getting man crazy... still have £20 outstanding payment at the garage where car was fixed? Which kind play be this nah?



Your parking charge ref. 507××××2 for R×××××M issued by UK CAR PARK MANAGEMENT LTD is overdue. It is your legal responsibility to settle this charge. Pay now to avoid potential late fees and clear your record today: paydrp.co.uk or call 0208 2346 775 to speak to an advisor quoting reference number 158××××2. We thank you in advance for your co-operation in this matter.

If you only received an SMS message, it's most likely a scam.......

How did the parking enforcement company, have access to your telephone number....... 😁

Did you receive any payment reminders, through the post.....

Do some more digging to avoid paying scammers..... Whilst dodging scammers trap, confirm to avoid facing excessive increments, car clamping etc etc, just incase the ticket is REAL.......

HustlaOfLagos:
we shall see about that

Any word about when it will all be implemented? Me thinks by the end of Feb, everything will be set in stone. Full implementation, maybe April

The Spring Statement of Changes are usually laid before Parliament in mid-March before coming into force c21 days later in the 1st week of April.

So the timeline might look like:

Feb 12 : Consultation closes
Feb 12- mid March: Home Office analyses the responses, system preparation and training etc
Mid March: New rules published (1st phase)
April 7 or thereabouts: Implementation of new rules (1st phase)

Bukad:
My concern with all these proposals is the use of RQF 6 and below as a criteria. They are people sponsored in HC roles below degree level but earning within 30-45k. Like those working in complex care, acute mental health, senior support workers, emergency services etc. Most people working 3 to 4 shifts a week on these roles average over 30k.
Also, If the government is to peg the earned model on household income, some families could have over 80k.
Meanwhile @zahra what's the fate of MSc students who switched to HC roles. Does the government hope to keep them within such roles knowing that majority could get other roles that align to thiet skills but for sponsorship requirement.

I don't think there is a deliberate strategy for this. It will be possible to switch out of a HC role to another role and shorten the time to ILR for eligible occupations and incomes.

Bukad:
My concern with all these proposals is the use of RQF 6 and below as a criteria. They are people sponsored in HC roles below degree level but earning within 30-45k. Like those working in complex care, acute mental health, senior support workers, emergency services etc. Most people working 3 to 4 shifts a week on these roles average over 30k.
Also, If the government is to peg the earned model on household income, some families could have over 80k.
Meanwhile @zahra what's the fate of MSc students who switched to HC roles. Does the government hope to keep them within such roles knowing that majority could get other roles that align to thiet skills but for sponsorship requirement.

They won't alter this in any way. They established the sponsorship tie for jobs for a reason. If left unchecked, they know that most people in the HC roles would leave immediately.

Zahra29:
The Spring Statement of Changes are usually laid before Parliament in mid-March before coming into force c21 days later in the 1st week of April.

So the timeline might look like:

Feb 12 : Consultation closes
Feb 12- mid March: Home Office analyses the responses, system preparation and training etc
Mid March: New rules published (1st phase)
April 7 or thereabouts: Implementation of new rules (1st phase)

We wait

They did say they would make some GTV changes and make it easier but it seems HC stuff has overshadowed everything. Feb 12 is not so far off anyways

If this pans out as you say (which unfortunately is looking likely), it will be unfair. This was the only reason I was able to get my ILR under 1 year of getting my GTV because time spent on my skilled worker visa counted! In fact, there were folks who applied for their ILR less than three months after getting the GTV as they needed to evidence income on GTV.

Anyone transitioning from a skilled visa route to a GTV needs to ONLY show evidence of an income on the new GTV and evidence of the qualifying period (including time spent on previous skilled worker visa) to apply for their ILR.

I hope the policy makers don't end up messing up things. The UK has too many rules that they themselves are now confused!

Another thing I am noticing from the questioning by MPs is that you cannot advocate for what you have no experience with. Any common sense MP should have at least a team of 3 current immigrants on visas having different routes to ensure they can ask relevant questions.

Shabana was just mouthing word salad during her questioning because these MPs couldn't articulate the right questions. I believe our community needs to do better on this next time.

All through the questionings, the presentations have been more reliant on empathy rather than logic. Logical questions would have disgraced the HO like Kemi did to the PM.

First, no MP has raised the issue of how increases in visa fees and IHS surcharges have been excessive and retrospective and how it deliberately punishes immigrants. Immigrants who paid an amount when they came have seen renewal for visa fees rise by over 60%. Salaries have not risen by such amounts. Immigrants are being asked to pay newer and higher fees which is unjust and unethical because the increases far surpass their expectations when they were applying in the first place. Visa fees for such folks should be capped at their rate when applying initially with tolerance granted based on inflation figures. This here is the major issue affecting immigrants. The excessive visa fees are practically crippling families.

Second, no MP has raised the issue of the inter-marriage between different visas (as you raised) and how the HO is addressing this. These become serious matters tomorrow when the HO has to clarify a position because they failed to handle it ab initio.

Lastly, no MP has raised issues of how the HO is deliberately weaponising hostilities against employers to make life difficult for employees. The employer cost for COS for employees over 5 years is huge for small businesses. What is the rationale for this? The baseline salary of £42k is also bonkers, what is the rationale for this? Even the UK government realised that increasing the minimum salary threshold was a deliberate “own goal” forcing them to decouple the minimum salary of citizens (~£29k who want to sponsor their partners) from that of immigrants (~£42k). They realised that the growth in the salary requirement (to ~£42k) was punitive for citizens and quite illogical but were ok to see this applied for immigrants. Why have MPs not debated this?

Timeline may be long, but if surrounding conditions are fair, people will be able to thrive, save and explore other options. It seems the UK govt wants to frustrate immigrants and ensure they end up wasted, poor and scrawny by the time they qualify for settlement.

I don't see immigrants getting any win at all (maybe they will concede the 15 years) from this whole debate.

HustlaOfLagos:
You have said it all, there is nothing left for me to add but I do believe folks earning well will have it easier and those on GTV.

It does seem like time on skilled worker visas will also no longer count towards the GTV route (not 100% sure about this but I am assuming due to the default 10 year route) as it now explicitly says "GTV holders should have spent 3 yrs - 5 yrson the route before their ILR app"

I agree but the question remains - how can the salary thresholds for care workers be increased? Seeing what folks earn, it is no surprise they end up depending on some form of benefits against their visa requirements. Remuneration across UK is very poor for low-level healthcare workers compared to their contributions. I am not saying they should be paid at the same rate of doctors.

I say this because if these care workers re on £50k - £65k, there will be no noise on immigrants. That amount alone is enough (through their taxes) to assuage any impact they will have on infrastructure.

Yes, Italy is also doing same thing similar to Spain. I feel they are in short supply of cheap labour. The key thing to watch out for will be the wording - will these immigrants be able to settle in time and free to roam EU?

Lastly, the issue of 15 years is something I hope they concede on. My fear is that they may want to outdo Reform and the Conservatives on who is the most heartless to immigrants. I hope and pray they at least concede (even the 11/12 you suggest is not good, it is too long a time to be an employee without freedom. Freedom (Igba Boi) is 7 years!) because 15 (or 11/12) years of misery in this UK as an employee with no freedom is actually a death sentence (literally) - hungry free man or well fed slave (slave is not even well fed!).

Zahra29:
I

💯

Agree with your analysis of the debate and proposed changes. Just a few points to add:

2. It was ever thus with the immigration debate in the UK. Immigration has been a key talking and political point since the early 2000s, especially when immigration levels ballooned (relative to previous years) under Blair. Labour was blamed for "open door/mass immigration" and this label stuck hard over the last 2 decades, partly why they are keen to now show that they can also be tough on immigration in order to regain the public's trust in this area.
However, even if they manage to bring net migration down to zero, immigration will remain a talking point - just like the weather lol

3. Spain appears to be more immigrant friendly - they are about to use a defacto royal decree to grant an amnesty to over 500k illegal migrants which would make them an outlier in the current western landscape. So perhaps Spain could become an option B,C or D for some for settlement.

In contrast, Sweden is apparently looking to legislate to revoke permanent residence from those previously granted refugee status,and move them to a temporary and less generous residence framework.

Care workers are definitely being targeted more harshly. This is a deliberate government strategy for these main reasons:

- The bulk of the "Boris wave" is made up of health and care visas. The government has estimated that for 40k care vacancies, over 600k care workers and their dependants came in over a 2 year period
- The lower wages in the sector increases the likelihood of future dependence on welfare. (In-work benefits such as universal credit can be accessed by those on low incomes)
- The large scale of immigration fraud and exploitation in the care sector which has received extensive coverage in the media
- over 95% of care workers are from Africa and south East Asia which makes immigration more "obvious" and has angered Brexiteers who feel betrayed that white migrants from Europe were replaced with black and brown migrants from the developing world.

However I don't think the government will go through with imposing a 15 year settlement timeline for care workers or <RQF 6 roles
as this will be seen as unduly harsh. It will likely be the 10 years baseline or perhaps slightly longer e.g 11/12 years.

Wanting to buy a new to you car, but this car is an old dinger........

Be very careful and check the cost of road tax, road fund license (or whatever they want to call it)......

From April 2026, that old dinger might cost you £760.00 per annum to tax.......

https://www.parkers.co.uk/car-tax/

Lexusgs430:
If you only received an SMS message, it's most likely a scam.......

How did the parking enforcement company, have access to your telephone number....... 😁

Did you receive any payment reminders, through the post.....

Do some more digging to avoid paying scammers..... Whilst dodging scammers trap, confirm to avoid facing excessive increments, car clamping etc etc, just incase the ticket is REAL.......

I only received sms - one time sms
No payment reminder of any sort... neither the post or email/sms

The car reg number on the sms is mine.
I have been trying to find out the exact location the parking ticket was issued? Most likely a camera issued coz no physical ticket on windscreen.

Dunno how else to dig?

Bwisewiturvote:
I only received sms - one time sms
No payment reminder of any sort... neither the post or email/sms

The car reg number on the sms is mine.
I have been trying to find out the exact location the parking ticket was issued? Most likely a camera issued coz no physical ticket on windscreen.

Dunno how else to dig?

My daughter received a similar message, her vehicle registration was correct, but it was a scam message ......

https://www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk/alert-to-common-sms-message-scams-relating-to-pcn-payment/

jedisco:
Likely a scam. Have you done an online search?
Such tickets are based on ones V5C details and sent in the post.
Also, do the details match that of your car? I.e the reg no e.t.c?

Yes the car reg on the sms is correct, I mean, it's mine
The sms was sent via a number....
I visited the site and input my case reference... was directed to payment interface

The (3) menu options on the site only directs you to the same payment interface....

See the attached screen shots

Bwisewiturvote:
I only received sms - one time sms
No payment reminder of any sort... neither the post or email/sms

The car reg number on the sms is mine.
I have been trying to find out the exact location the parking ticket was issued? Most likely a camera issued coz no physical ticket on windscreen.

Dunno how else to dig?

Read the link I sent you, you can forward the message, to confirm the authenticity of the message. If message turns out to be real, you can add this with your evidence, to the parking adjudicator........

Lexusgs430:
Read the link I sent you, you can forward the message, to confirm the authenticity of the message. If message turns out to be real, you can add this with your evidence, to the parking adjudicator........

Thank you for this tips boss
Grateful

Bwisewiturvote:
Yes the car reg on the sms is correct, I mean, it's mine
The sms was sent via a number....
I visited the site and input my case reference... was directed to payment interface

The (3) menu options on the site only directs you to the same payment interface....

See the attached screen shots

Tickets are usually sent via post to the registered address of the vehicle owner. Have you changed your address of late?

Before proceeding, I'd search online using especially on forums using details in the SMS e.g phone number see if this is a known scam

On their website, I see there's an option to write in to them. Personally, I'd be doing that to keep a verifiable contact trail. Without revealing personal details, I'd be quoting their reference number and asking them to update me with details of the infarction. Where and when it occured and what my options are (there should be an appeal process). I wouldn't be filling out the non-mandatory part of the form and possibly using initials in place of a name.

WanderingChild:
I agree but the question remains - how can the salary thresholds for care workers be increased? Seeing what folks earn, it is no surprise they end up depending on some form of benefits against their visa requirements. Remuneration across UK is very poor for low-level healthcare workers compared to their contributions. I am not saying they should be paid at the same rate of doctors.

I say this because if these care workers re on £50k - £65k, there will be no noise on immigrants. That amount alone is enough (through their taxes) to assuage any impact they will have on infrastructure.

Yes, Italy is also doing same thing similar to Spain. I feel they are in short supply of cheap labour. The key thing to watch out for will be the wording - will these immigrants be able to settle in time and free to roam EU?

Lastly, the issue of 15 years is something I hope they concede on. My fear is that they may want to outdo Reform and the Conservatives on who is the most heartless to immigrants. I hope and pray they at least concede (even the 11/12 you suggest is not good, it is too long a time to be an employee without freedom. Freedom (Igba Boi) is 7 years!) because 15 (or 11/12) years of misery in this UK as an employee with no freedom is actually a death sentence (literally) - hungry free man or well fed slave (slave is not even well fed!).

If the care sector increased wages to £50 - 65k, the need to sponsor overseas workers would evaporate overnight as they would have more than enough local workers willing to do the work for that pay.

Post Brexit, HGV driver salaries jumped to as much as £60-80k due to a massive shortage of drivers and the government's reluctance to open up a HGV visa route. The salary jump attracted loads of new workers and the staffing crisis was averted.

Subsequently though, instead of increasing pay, businesses lobbied Boris's government to relax visa conditions to bring in foreign workers and the rest is history... I believe Streeting is working on a Fair Pay Agreement for Adult Social care to increase pay and working conditions.

Re Spain - I think the plan is to issue a 1 year work permit which can then be renewed if conditions are met. After 5 years they should be able to apply for PR and citizenship in 10.

WanderingChild:
If this pans out as you say (which unfortunately is looking likely), it will be unfair. This was the only reason I was able to get my ILR under 1 year of getting my GTV because time spent on my skilled worker visa counted! In fact, there were folks who applied for their ILR less than three months after getting the GTV as they needed to evidence income on GTV.

Anyone transitioning from a skilled visa route to a GTV needs to ONLY show evidence of an income on the new GTV and evidence of the qualifying period (including time spent on previous skilled worker visa) to apply for their ILR.

I hope the policy makers don't end up messing up things. The UK has too many rules that they themselves are now confused!

This part ehn

I will wait to see what happens but the skilled worker visa will likely still count if one is on the GTV route. Too many rules will end up birthing tweaks and changes and everything will be at the risk of looking disjointed

... And there is no way HC is getting paid £60,000, it will put big strains on local authorities and the gov itself and it appears the gov is broque

https://archive.is/BvpGU

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-barack-michelle-obama-apes-truth-social-b2915152.html

This is the Rump some folk here admire.