More than half the people trying to secure permanent residency in the UK through the Home Office’s “devastating and punishing” 10-year route struggle to afford food and pay bills, a survey has indicated. The 10-year route to settling permanently in the UK was one of a series of deliberately tough measures introduced in 2012 by Theresa May when she was home secretary, as part of drive to cut net migration. Researchers say the full effects of the policy are only now starting to be felt. A survey of more than 300 people currently or recently making this application process found that 62% struggled to meet the cost of electricity, heating, water and internet, and 57% struggled to buy food, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research study. The route is available to people who have strong ties to the UK, such as having a British child, but who do not earn enough to qualify for faster settlement routes. The cost of settlement has risen dramatically, and fees now exceed £12,800 for each adult, over the course of the decade-long qualification period. Most of the estimated 170,000 people who are seeking to secure the right to remain permanently in the UK through the 10-year route are in low paid occupations, often care workers, cleaners and nursing assistants. Researchers said the design of the scheme led to “poverty and insecurity for many”. Applicants must accrue 10 years of continuous lawful residence before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain. The requirement to reapply for renewed visas every 30 months leaves families feeling very insecure, the IPPR research found. They are subject to the “no recourse to public funds” provision, meaning they cannot usually access benefits or social housing if they need to, or free school meals for their children. Those who find themselves unable to afford the fees every 2.5 years can become undocumented, and become illegal migrants. Home Office delays in the visa renewal process add to the difficulties experienced by people on this route. Joanna, 44, a kitchen assistant in a secondary school, who moved to the UK from Ghana in 2004, said she had paid about £30,000 in Home Office fees over the past decade and still has not secured permanent residency for herself, her partner and two of her children. “The pressure keeps mounting. Sometimes I’ve gone to bed without eating. We’ve been using food banks for years,” she said. “All the time I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to afford the next payment. My children have suffered greatly.” Lucy Mort, senior research fellow at IPPR, said applicants described the decade-long process as “devastating and punishing”. “The need for repeated applications also makes this an onerous policy for the Home Office to implement – when their resources could be better spent elsewhere. It’s clear that this policy needs review and reform, not only to improve the lives of people on course to settle, but to reduce the workload of the Home Office,” she said. Josephine Whitaker-Yilmaz, head of policy at the migrant rights charity Praxis, which co-wrote the research, said: “Shorter, faster and more affordable routes to settlement are urgently needed so that people who have been a part of our communities for years already can get on with their lives and participate fully in both society and the economy.” A Home Office spokesperson said immigration applications were set at a level to provide the resources necessary to operate a the UK’s migration and borders system, adding: “These rules are designed to ensure financial independence, encourage integration and tackle immigration abuse.”