Today's Edition
LONDON (AFP)
Britain will drastically reduce protections for refugees and end automatic benefits for asylum seekers, the Labour government announced late Saturday, under new plans aimed at slashing irregular immigration.
The measures are modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system, which entitles refugees to a one-year renewable residency permit, and encourages them to return home as soon as authorities deem there is no longer a need for a safe haven.
"I'll end UK's golden ticket for asylum seekers," interior minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement.
Presently, those given refugee status in the UK have it for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship. But Mahmood's ministry, known as the Home Office, said it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months.
That protection will be "regularly reviewed" and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.
The ministry also said that it intended to make those refugees who were granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term. Currently, they can do so after five years.
The Home Office called the new proposals, which Mahmood is due to lay out in parliament on Monday, the "largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times".
It said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants to come to Britain, and make it easier to remove those already in the country.
A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would be also be revoked, the ministry said. That means housing and weekly financial allowances would no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers. It would be "discretionary", meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves but did not, or those who committed crimes.
In Denmark, family reunions for refugees are also subject to strict requirements, including a minimum age for both parents, language tests, and guarantees of funds.
Britain's Mahmood is also expected to announce a tightening of rules around family reunions.
