UK to end ‘golden ticket’ for asylum seekers in huge policy overhaul

The plans, inspired by Denmark’s approach, purpose to slash irregular migration and antagonistic the UK’s acold right.

The United Kingdom has announced a drastic simplification successful the protections for asylum seekers and refugees nether a caller program aimed astatine slashing irregular migration and countering the acold right.

The measures, modelled connected Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced precocious connected Saturday arsenic Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes nether unit from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 4Why does the UK privation to transcript Denmark’s stringent migration policies?
• list 2 of 4UK drops exile household reunion applications amid anti-immigration protests
• list 3 of 4UK and France hold connected request for caller migration vessel crossing ‘deterrent’
• list 4 of 4Starmer and Macron denote ‘one in, 1 out’ returns of asylum seekers

“I’ll extremity UK’s aureate summons for asylum seekers,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood declared successful a statement, with the Home Office, arsenic her ministry is known, calling the caller proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum argumentation successful modern times”.

Mahmood is owed to laic retired the argumentation successful parliament connected Monday.

Meanwhile, the caput of the UK’s Refugee Council warned the authorities that the measures would not deter radical from trying to scope the state and urged a rethink.

“They should guarantee that refugees who enactment hard and lend to Britain tin physique secure, settled lives and springiness backmost to their communities,” Enver Solomon said.

Currently, radical get refugee status for 5 years, aft which they tin use for indefinite permission to stay and eventually, citizenship.

Mahmood’s ministry says it would chopped the magnitude of exile presumption to 30 months. That extortion volition beryllium “regularly reviewed”, and refugees volition beryllium forced to instrumentality to their location countries erstwhile they are deemed safe, it added.

The ministry besides said it intended to marque those refugees who were granted asylum hold 20 years earlier applying to beryllium allowed to unrecorded successful the UK long-term.

Asylum claims grounds high

Asylum claims successful Britain are astatine a record high. Polls suggest migration has overtaken the system arsenic voters’ apical concern.

Some 109,343 radical claimed asylum successful the UK successful the twelvemonth ending March 2025, a 17 percent emergence connected the erstwhile twelvemonth and 6 percent supra the 2002 highest of 103,081.

The Home Office said the reforms would marque it little charismatic for irregular migrants and refugees to travel to the UK and marque it easier to region those already successful the country.

A statutory ineligible work to supply enactment to asylum seekers, introduced successful a 2005 law, would besides beryllium revoked, the ministry said. That means lodging and play fiscal allowances would nary longer beryllium guaranteed for asylum seekers.

It would beryllium “discretionary”, meaning the authorities could contradict assistance to immoderate asylum seeker who could enactment oregon enactment themselves, oregon those who committed crimes.

Starmer, elected past year, is nether unit to halt migrants crossing the English Channel successful small boats from France, thing that besides troubled his Conservative predecessors.

More than 39,000 people, galore fleeing conflict, person arrived this twelvemonth pursuing specified unsafe journeys – much than for the full of 2024 but little than the grounds acceptable successful 2022.

The crossings are helping rise the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins successful sentiment polls for astir of this year.

More than 100 British charities wrote to Mahmood, urging her to “end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that lone origin harm”, saying specified steps are prompting racism and violence.