What are the proposed asylum system reforms?

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood has announced what are being billed as the biggest changes to the fight against illegal immigration in “modern times”.

Modeled on the stricter approach introduced by Denmark’s center-left government, the package makes refugee status temporary, narrows the appeal process and threatens to impose visa bans on countries that prevent return.

Here’s what we know:

People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, with their status reviewed every 30 months.

This means people can be sent back to their home country if it is deemed “safe” to do so.

The program mirrors the approach in Denmark, where refugees receive a two-year permit and must reapply when it expires.

The government says it began supporting people’s voluntary return to Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.

It will now begin exploring forced repatriation to Syria and other countries where people have not been routinely returned in recent years.

Refugees will also need to reside in the UK for 20 years, compared to the current five years, before they can apply for permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain.

Meanwhile, the government will create a new “work and study” visa route and encourage refugees to take this route to find work or start training to settle more quickly.

Only those on this work and study route will be able to sponsor family members to join them in the UK.

The home secretary also plans to end the process of allowing multiple appeals in asylum cases and replace them with a single, consolidated appeal in which all grounds must be put forward at once.

A new independent appeals body will be created, staffed by trained judges and supported by early legal advice.

To achieve this, the government will introduce legislation that will change the way the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in immigration cases.

In future, only those with immediate relatives, such as children or parents, will be able to stay in the UK.

Greater emphasis will be placed on the public interest in removing foreign criminals and illegal entrants.

The government will also narrow the application of Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ministers say the current interpretation of the law allows multiple appeals against asylum refusals, including from serious criminals who are prevented from deportation because their health needs cannot be met.

The Modern Slavery Act will be tightened to prevent last-minute trafficking allegations being used to stop deportations by requiring asylum seekers to disclose all relevant information early. Any information disclosed later will be considered less reliable.

Mahmood will revoke the legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers and end guaranteed housing and weekly wages.

Support will still be available to the “indigent” but will be withheld from people with a work permit who are not working, and from people who break the law or defy removal orders.

Nor will support be given to “those who deliberately leave themselves poor.”

According to the plans, wealthy asylum seekers will be required to contribute to accommodation costs. This reflects Denmark’s approach that asylum seekers have to use their savings to cover accommodation costs and authorities can seize assets at the border.

UK Home Office sources ruled out seizing sentimental items such as wedding rings, but Home Secretary Alex Norris suggested cars and e-bikes could be targeted.

The government has previously promised to end this use. Hotels to hold refugees until 2029It cost the government £5.77 million a day last year, according to official figures.

The government is also consulting on plans to end the current system under which families whose asylum claims are rejected continue to receive housing and financial support until their youngest child turns 18.

Ministers say the current system creates a “perverse incentive” to remain in the UK without status. Instead, families will be offered financial assistance to return voluntarily, but if they refuse, forced deportation will follow.

As well as tightening access to refugee status, the UK will create new legal routes to the UK with an annual number cap.

Under the changes, volunteers and community groups will be able to sponsor individual refugees, reminiscent of the “Homes for Ukraine” scheme under which the British hosted Ukrainians fleeing war.

The government will also expand the Displaced Talent Mobility pilot, which was established in 2021 to encourage businesses to sponsor at-risk people from around the world to come to the UK to help fill skills gaps.

The home affairs minister will set an annual limit on arrivals via these routes, depending on local capacity. But those who come through legal means will follow a fluid ten-year route to resolution.

Visa penalties will be imposed on countries that do not cooperate with return policies, including the imposition of an “emergency brake” on visas for countries with high asylum claims until they take back their citizens who are in the UK illegally.

Britain has already identified three African countries it plans to punish if their governments fail to improve cooperation on expulsion.

The governments of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will have a month to begin cooperating before gradual sanctions are imposed, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said on Monday.

The government also plans to introduce new technologies to strengthen inspection.

Trials of artificial intelligence-driven technology Verification of the ages of asylum seekers, especially those claiming to be children, will be made more widely available.

Besides this, the government plans to introduce a digital identity by the end of Parliament. The government argues this will allow for more accurate right-to-work checks by employers and make it harder for illegal workers to use false documents.