UK asylum crisis: a ‘refugee visa’ would curb Channel small boats crossings, says charity - how would it work?

Introducing a new visa for asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution would help tackle small boats crossings, the UK’s leading refugee charity has said.

Refugee Council has urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman to consider a series of alternative solutions to their controversial Illegal Migration Act - arguing that the new legislation which has just passed into law will not succeed in stopping small boats facilitated by people-smugglers from crossing the Channel.

Instead, the charity has suggested ministers implement its “comprehensive” new ‘National Refugee Strategy’, which it says finds safe and legal ways for refugees to reach the UK while also upholding the “right for people to apply for asylum, regardless of how they arrive”.

Currently, under the Illegal Migration Act, anyone deemed to have arrived in the UK via ‘illegal’ or ‘irregular’ means will be barred from claiming asylum - before being detained and then deported to their country of origin or a third country such as Rwanda.

One of the key proposals in Refugee Council’s National Refugee Strategy is a year-long pilot of a refugee visa, which would work in a similar way to the scheme which was used for those fleeing the war in Ukraine. The visa would enable those from the top refugee-producing countries - Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Eritrea, and Sudan - to apply for permission to travel to the UK in order to claim asylum.

To request a visa, applicants need to leave their home country and then submit an application, either online or at centres which would be set up in neighbouring countries to the ones they are fleeing. As part of the process, basic security and nationality checks would be carried out - with other forms of documentation accepted if the applicant does not have a passport.

Some 10,000 visas should be given out as part of the scheme, at an estimated cost of £50.2m, Refugee Council said. Decisions should take no more than three days, the charity added, and if someone is refused asylum, they could be returned to their home country.

Other recommendations include giving children a chance to join relatives in the UK, allowing people with relatives in the UK to travel from other EU member states, and giving asylum seekers who have been waiting longer than six months for a decision on their claim the right to work in the UK.

The proposals have come after Channel crossings resumed on Tuesday (25 July), following a period of poor conditions at sea which saw arrivals stalled for several days. According to provisional government figures, more than 14,500 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the journey across the Channel.

Commenting on the plan, Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “The human cost and chaos of the current system have reached shocking levels and we urgently need a new approach. The proposals we set out would go some way towards making the smugglers redundant. When there are safer alternatives for people to travel to the UK to begin their refugee application, the number of people arriving in boats will drop significantly.

“By putting in place safe routes, achieving agreements with our French and European neighbours, and treating people fairly and with compassion when they reach our shores, we can establish a very different approach from the inhumanity and disorder the Government is overseeing.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Home Office, which in the past has criticised those opposing the Illegal Migration Act of failing to provide alternative solutions, said: “Our priority is to stop the boats.

“Those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach rather than risking their lives or paying people smugglers to arrive illegally in the UK.

“The UK has a strong track record of providing protection to those who genuinely need it and we are committed to exploring new safe and legal routes, but we must first grip the rise in illegal migration. Our Illegal Migration Act is a key part of our work to deter people from making unnecessary journeys to the UK.

“We are also taking action to ensure all asylum claims are considered without unnecessary delay and remain on track to clear the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog by the end of the year.”