Thousands of Afghans still in limbo over whether they can come to safety in UK
Tens of thousands of Afghans are still waiting to hear whether they will be granted asylum in the UK five years after the fall of Kabul, warning that “urgent action” is needed to relocate all families as planned by March 2029.
The National Audit Office (NAO) found 37,950 people arrived in the UK under various Afghan resettlement schemes by the end of 2025, with almost half of these people evacuated in 2021 due to the impact of the Taliban takeover.
But around 29,655 people are still waiting to hear whether they will be allowed to resettle in Britain under plans that will cost the UK a total of £5.7bn. The schemes closed to new applicants in July last year, just before it was revealed that the Ministry of Defense (MoD) was responsible for a massive data leak of applicants’ details that put thousands of lives at risk.
The government is working to resettle families who are eligible to come to the UK because they have previously supported UK forces in Afghanistan or because their data has been breached.
Ministers have committed to bringing all eligible Afghans to the UK by March 2029 under the new combined programme, the Afghan Resettlement Programme. But the NAO report found that the officer in charge of the program believed they would not be able to achieve this target unless there was “immediate intervention”.
Problems with the evacuation plan include a lack of resources to deal with thousands of cases, the deportation of Afghans from Pakistan to Afghanistan before moving to the UK, and the lack of suitable places to house them in Britain; This leads to more homelessness than expected.
The report said the government has spent £3.1 billion on programs so far, leaving a further £2.6 billion to be spent before 2033.
The report said authorities estimate that around 9,741 more people currently in the resettlement system will be resettled in the UK by 2029.
Government officials also told the watchdog that the MoD’s injunction decision – gag order in effect for almost two years to cover up data leak and the resettlement of Afghans due to the data breach hindered their ability to work together across departments.
NAO chief executive Gareth Davies said government departments were “working together in challenging circumstances to resettle thousands of Afghan nationals” who were at risk of retaliation, but said there was “still more work to do to successfully resettle affected people to the UK”.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the influential Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the NAO “provides much-needed transparency into expensive figures, chaotic regulations and inefficient decisions made by government”.
He added: “Combining the programs with the Afghan Resettlement Program has made some progress, but many risks remain, such as poor data and a lack of affordable housing.
“More clearly needs to be done to prevent resettled citizens from facing poor outcomes and minimize the risk of homelessness.”
Independent He reported on the challenges Afghan families face when they arrive in the UK. A former Afghan special forces soldier has described his struggle to find suitable housing for himself and his family, despite the large sums given to municipalities to support such families.
A government spokesman said: “The report clearly reveals the scale and complexity of Afghan resettlement and recognizes the progress made, with around 38,000 Afghans already settled in the UK, and we remain committed to our target of completing Afghan resettlement by the end of this parliament.
“The Afghan Resettlement Program launched by this government unites all programs into one pathway to deliver better outcomes and stronger value for money for eligible Afghans; work continues across government to ensure the program is implemented as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“We have also recently introduced new KPIs to improve case review times and provide greater transparency for applicants and supporters, as well as an online ARAB eligibility auto-checker.”
