UK plan leaves some refugees waiting up to 30 years, UNHCR says

Care workers may apply for indefinite leave after five years

UNHCR, which has international responsibility for refugees, welcomed the legal routes announced by the UK government but criticized the “earned settlement” strategy, saying the plan “raises significant concerns” and is “likely to be detrimental.” Kamena Dorling, the Helen Bamber Foundation’s director of policy, also criticized the strategy, saying that extending the qualifying period “is simply inhumane” and warning it would cause “profound and lasting harm” to refugees.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood unveiled the strategy earlier this week as she announced a softening of aspects of her immigration plans, but retained some rules drafted by her office last year. She maintained a maximum wait of 30 years for people arriving irregularly, including on small boats, and introduced a carve-out allowing care workers to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years.

Some refugees can reduce the 30-year upper limit if they enter work or study. The rules impose a 10-year penalty on people who arrive on small boats or concealed in lorries rather than through safe and legal routes.

The Guardian reported that the government had significantly reduced safe and legal routes even as it announced some legal routes, with the announced options accessible to only a small minority of people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

A photograph credited to Gareth Fuller/PA shows a group of people thought to be migrants being walked through from the Border Security Command compound in Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel.

UNHCR welcomed the legal routes but said: “An extended qualifying period for settlement for refugees raises significant concerns particularly when considered alongside the introduction of short term stay arrangements and changes made last year that would preclude many from ever accessing citizenship. Taken together, these measures are likely to be detrimental to refugees’ sense of security, belonging and stability, and to impact their ability to contribute and become part of their new communities.”

The agency also distinguished refugees from migrants: “Refugees are not migrants: they have fled their countries because they cannot rely on their protection nor safely return home. For refugees, safety means more than a grant of asylum and settlement has an important role to play.”

Dorling said: “We are deeply alarmed and disappointed by the government’s announcement on ‘earned settlement’. It will cause profound and lasting harm to refugees, including survivors of torture, trafficking and other forms of extreme cruelty.”

She continued: “The government had an opportunity to change its approach after receiving extensive evidence about the devastating consequences of this policy but instead has doubled down on its approach that will damage the lives and futures of thousands of men, women, families and children, as well as harm wider integration and social cohesion.”

She added: “This will not deter people fleeing war, persecution, torture and violence, who are fighting for their lives and seeking safety in the UK. When legal routes are so severely limited, people will continue to take desperate measures to reach safety. It will punish people who have already endured unimaginable harm, leaving those recognised as refugees facing decades of uncertainty, insecurity and fear.”