The share of asylum seekers granted asylum in the United Kingdom has risen to a 30-year high, sparking renewed concern from refugee charities about recent changes in the system that will criminalize or transfer many people to Rwanda.
New data from the Home Office show that 75% of asylum applications in the year ending March 2022 were granted, with most applicants entering the UK via small boats or other irregular routes. This means that they can be prosecuted under the new Law on Nationality and Borders, which was adopted in April.
Dr Peter Walsh, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, said: “This is a significant change from a few years ago, when most asylum applications were initially rejected. This underlines that asylum-seeking policies will inevitably affect some people who will be granted refugee status if their application is processed in the United Kingdom.
The interior ministry said the increase in approval rates was partly a consequence of Brexit, as it was the first year in which officials could not refuse asylum applications from people who had traveled through other safe European countries before arrived in the United Kingdom. This also reflects a change in the origin of the candidates, with most people now making their way from countries that usually have a high approval rate, such as Syria, Eritrea and Sudan.
In the year ending March 2022, the number of refusals was approximately one third of that of two years earlier, amounting to 3,710, compared with 9,447 in March 2020. There are 55,146 applications in the United Kingdom. for asylum in the year to March 2022, the highest number for each 12-month period since 2003, when the total number was 61,343.
The increase in applications “may be due in part to the easing of global travel restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sharp increase in small boats arriving in the UK,” the Home Office report said.
The same figures reveal that more than 1,000 Afghans arrived in small boats in the first quarter of 2022, nearly a quarter of small boats arriving, suggesting that Afghanistan’s resettlement schemes, which were launched last year after the fall in Kabul to the Taliban do not offer enough support. Of the 4,540 people caught arriving in small boats between January and March 2022, 24% (1,094) were Afghan nationals. They represent the highest of all registered nationalities, followed by 16% of Iranians (722) and 15% (681) of Iraqis.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “This increase is an inevitable consequence of the restrictive nature of resettlement schemes in Afghanistan, for which the vast majority of Afghans simply do not qualify. The government must keep the promises it made to the people of Afghanistan by immediately ensuring that the country’s most vulnerable people have access to a safe route to the UK so that they are not forced to risk their lives to find safety here. ”
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Marley Morris, associate director of migration at the IPPR think tank, said: “The government has said it gives Afghans a ‘warm welcome’, but these figures reveal that many feel they have no choice but to accept this as dangerous.” route to reach the United Kingdom. The government’s new plans in response to the crossing of the English Channel could mean that Afghan asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda. Contrary to the government’s claims, there are several safe routes for people forced to board small boats to reach the United Kingdom.
The figures also highlight the backlog of around 110,000 unprocessed asylum cases, more than double the end of March 2020. “This leaves thousands trapped in obscurity, banned from working, living hand in hand with less than £ 6 a day and left without knowing what their future holds, ”said Solomon.
A spokesman for the Home Office said: “The United Kingdom has made one of its biggest commitments in support of Afghan refugees from any country and will resettle up to 20,000 Afghan women, children and others at risk. Increasing the dangerous crossings of the English Channel is unacceptable. The Nationality and Borders Act will deal with gangs smuggling evil people who are abusing our immigration laws. “
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