Britain watered down plans on Monday to impose long delays on immigrants seeking to receive permanent residence, announcing exemptions for hundreds of thousands of care workers to defuse a political outcry within the governing Labour Party.
The government had announced plans last year to require lower-skilled workers to wait 10 to 15 years to receive permanent residence, up from five years previously.
But under the plans unveiled on Monday, it said hundreds of thousands of workers in the care sector would now be exempt from the longer waits. Refugees who arrived illegally by boat, however, would face additional penalties, and could now be required to wait decades.