Home Secretary announces replacement of refugee leave with temporary protection model ‘from today’
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament, announced that the government will replace the existing five-year grant of refugee leave with a 30-month temporary protection period under a new ‘core protection’ model, subject to regular review and an expectation of return when a person’s country of origin is deemed safe, and will extend the route to settlement to 20 years unless an individual qualifies to switch into alternative work or study visa routes, with the first changes to be made through amendments to the Immigration Rules ‘later this week’ and transitional arrangements preserving the current framework for those who applied ‘before today’ (2 March 2026).