No 'golden ticket' for refugees as Starmer to cut family reunion and settlement rights

Refugees granted asylum successful the UK volition nary longer beryllium automatically fixed colony and household reunion rights, Sir Keir Starmer volition announce.

The premier curate volition uncover the program for asylum argumentation changes astatine the European Political Community (EPC) acme successful Copenhagen connected Thursday, wherever helium volition co-chair a gathering of leaders looking astatine antithetic approaches to tackling amerciable migration.

Sir Keir volition archer the EPC, a forum of 44 countries formed aft Russia invaded Ukraine, that refugees volition not person the automatic close to household reunion.

On 1 September, the authorities suspended the household reunion route arsenic ministers figured retired a caller asylum policy, which volition beryllium unveiled aboriginal this autumn.

The way allowed radical granted asylum to sponsor their contiguous household to articulation them arsenic a mode of reuniting families separated by struggle and persecution.

They did not request to conscionable the income oregon English connection requirements typically required for different UK household visa routes.

Sir Keir is acceptable to denote a caller concern with Denmark, backed by up to £3m, to tackle the causes of migration successful Western Balkan countries, including by encouraging radical to enactment successful the portion and instrumentality up jobs there.

He volition sermon the changes with the different leaders and speech astir different ways European countries tin enactment unneurotic to tackle amerciable migration.

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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, earlier this week, told the Labour league gaining indefinite permission to stay (ILR) - which gives radical the close to settle, enactment and survey successful the UK - will instrumentality longer than the existent 5 years to gain.

She said depending connected a person's publication to the UK it could instrumentality them astir 10 years, with immoderate little clip and immoderate more.

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What's the quality betwixt Labour and Reform ILR plans?

The location caput said she plans to present further requirements to summation ILR, including:

• Being successful work

• Making nationalist security contributions

• Not being connected benefits

• Learning English to a precocious standard

• No transgression record

• "Truly giving backmost to the community" through, for example, volunteering

Ahead of the EPC meeting, Sir Keir said: "I judge that if you privation to travel to the UK, you should lend to our society. That is the tolerant and just attack to migration that our communities are built on, but the existent strategy is not acceptable for purpose.

"That is wherefore we're making cardinal changes to what those granted asylum are afforded successful the UK. Settlement indispensable beryllium earned by contributing to our country, not by paying a radical smuggler to transverse the transmission successful a boat.

"The UK volition proceed to play its relation successful welcoming genuine refugees fleeing persecution. But we indispensable besides code the propulsion factors driving unsafe and amerciable tiny boats crossings. There volition beryllium nary aureate summons to settling successful the UK, radical volition person to gain it."