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Refugees arriving in the UK will be given the right to stay permanently, under a new system that the Home Secretary has described as “fair but firm”.
Priti Patel it will announce that those fleeing war or persecution and traversing the “safe and legal route to resettlement” will receive indefinite permission to stay.
Currently resettled refugees are allowed to stay in the UK for five years, after which they can apply for an indefinite leave to stay.
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February: asylum seekers ‘treated like criminals’
This aims to give refugees the stability they need to rebuild their lives in the UK.
Priority will be given to refugees, including children, in regions of conflict and instability, the Interior Ministry said, rather than those “already in safe European countries.”
The plan will also include:
- People who are denied asylum will go through an expedited appeals process aimed at giving people access to justice and minimizing time spent on “claims and appeals without merit.”
- Judges will be asked to give “minimal weight” to evidence submitted by an asylum seeker later in the process, unless there are exceptional circumstances; a higher standard of proof will be needed.
- The Border Force will receive new powers to register containers entering the UK
- Displaced families will be reunited more easily, with a review of family reunion routes available to refugees.
- Foreign criminals will not be able to “thwart the deportation process” by filing “endless claims for protection.”
- Human smugglers facilitating entry into the UK will face life in prison and the penalty for those entering the UK illegally will also be increased.
Ms Patel said: “Our new plan for immigration will make big changes, building a new system that is fair but strong. We will continue to promote asylum through safe and legal routes while at the same time hardening our stance towards illegal entry. and criminals who endanger life by enabling it.
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February: Asylum seekers complain about food allowance
“Not all of these reforms will happen overnight, so to save lives we will have to stick to the course and carry out this New Plan for Immigration.”
It comes after it was revealed that the Home Secretary was also considering sending asylum seekers to Gibraltar and the Isle of Man while their applications are being processed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the idea as “humanitarian”, but leaders of both territories said they had not been contacted by the UK government and the plans are unlikely to go ahead.
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November: Pakistani teenager files UK asylum appeal after kidnapping and marriage
Johnson said: “Because people are crossing the English Channel and they are being tricked, tricked by gangsters, into paying huge sums of money, risking their lives.”
“People have died trying to make this crossing and it is deeply disgusting traffic that we have to stop, and that is why the Minister of the Interior has exposed the harsh series of proposals that you have seen.
“The objective is humanitarian and humane, which is to stop the abuse of these people by a group of traffickers and gangsters.”
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November: rights of unaccompanied refugees to enter the UK
The Daily Mail reported that Turkey was also being considered.
The overseas processing policy is similar to that used by the Australian government, where asylum seekers are kept on the island of Nauru or Papua New Guinea while their applications are examined, sometimes for years.
Australia’s policy has been widely criticized by human rights groups.
