Migrants to be denied rights to remain

Under plans by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to crush people-smuggling illegal migrants will be denied the right to settle in the UK even if they are granted asylum.

 

For the first time, the way a migrant enters the UK will be the determinant factor in how an asylum claim progresses and to it's eventual status. The move represents the biggest shake-up in the asylum system for 50 years and follows a record 8,500 migrants crossing the Channel in small boats last year.

 

The Home Secretary is proposing that only those who come to the UK through legitimate routes, via official government refugee schemes from war zones or to escape persecution, will be entitled to indefinite leave to remain.

 

Those who arrive by other means and are given asylum will only be granted "temporary protection status", meaning they will be regularly reassessed for removal from the UK, have limited family reunion rights and no access to benefits unless destitute.

 

The twin-track approach is designed to "break the smugglers' business model" and encourage legal means of entry as a viable alternative, as anyone brought illegally into the UK will never have citizenship and will only ever be a "temporary" member of British society at risk of removal every 30 months.

 

Those able to remain will get the temporary protection status rather than an automatic right to settle, which will allow them to work, but not allow access to benefits or permission to bring their family to the UK.

 

Ms Patel promised extra support for "legal" refugees and "simple, safe and secure" reception centres for asylum seekers. Asylum seekers will only have one go to present their case ahead of an appeal to prevent lawyers dragging it out with new claims, and lawyers will also face court-imposed financial penalties for pursuing "meritless" claims.

 

People smugglers will face more stringent life terms rather than the current maximum of 14 years.

 

Ms Patel said: "If people arrive illegally, they will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally, and it will be harder for them to stay. If, like over 60 per cent of illegal arrivals, they have travelled through a safe country like France to get here, they will not have immediate entry into the asylum system – which is what happens today. I make no apology for these actions being firm, but as they will also save lives and target people-smugglers, they are also undeniably fair."

 

To be enshrined in law in a Sovereign Borders Bill this autumn, Home Office sources said the plans met the UK's international obligations under human rights and refugee conventions, but they are likely to face a legal challenge.

 

 

Whitestone Solicitors

Rochdale