Since last summer, as anti-immigration sentiment has spread in the United Kingdom, the British government has overhauled its policy to sharply cut refugee support, further raising immigration barriers.
On the 16th, local time, according to local media including the Financial Times (FT) and the BBC, the Home Office announced an overhaul of refugee policy that extends the period required to qualify to apply for permanent residency from the current five years to 20 years and abolishes mandatory support provisions for refugees. It also shortened the period for granting refugee status from five years to two years and six months.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in an interview with Sky News that day, "This is a moral mission for me," adding, "Illegal migration is causing division across the United Kingdom and polarizing communities. I do not want to simply watch people being pulled apart from each other."
Minister Mahmood stressed that she is also pushing a plan to switch mandatory provisions of housing and weekly financial support for those who have the right to work in the United Kingdom but do not work to discretionary payments so they are not provided. She noted that about 10% of asylum seekers currently have the right to work but in practice do not support themselves.
She added that criminal organizations are selling U.K.-bound packages to asylum seekers and promising "free hotels and food," saying, "We know we need to address these pull factors for refugees." Minister Mahmood said, "The current system puts refugees in a more advantageous position than many U.K. citizens living in social housing," adding, "This is an issue that goes to the heart of basic fairness."
According to the Home Office, as of June this year, the number of asylum applications in the United Kingdom over the past year hit a record high of 111,084, up 14% from a year earlier. According to European Union (EU) statistics, the United Kingdom receives the fifth-highest number of asylum applications in Europe, after Germany, Spain, France and Italy.
Moreover, in the United Kingdom, anti-immigration sentiment has surged to an extreme following an incident in July in Essex County in which an Ethiopian immigrant who entered illegally by small boat committed five sex crimes nine days after entry. Since then, anti-immigration protests have been held repeatedly in front of hotels that provide accommodations to refugees, and a right-wing party advocating tough anti-immigration policies has been leading various opinion polls.
The United Kingdom modeled its approach on Denmark, which implements the strictest refugee policies in Europe. As the number of immigrants from Syria and Afghanistan surged, Denmark in 2015 drastically shortened refugees' temporary residence period from five years or more to two years and changed the system to regrant refugee status after review when the period ends. In addition, to obtain permanent residency, refugees must meet requirements including fluency in Danish and several years of full-time employment.
In a BBC interview, Minister Mahmood said, "Asylum seekers who find jobs through safe and legal routes and contribute to society will be able to apply for permanent settlement earlier," but did not specify detailed criteria or how it would be implemented. On the other hand, she also set out a policy that even those granted refugee status could be returned if their home countries are deemed safe again.
In refugee communities, backlash against the British government's overhaul is fierce. Enver Solomon, head of the refugee support group "Refugee Council," criticized the policy, saying, "A policy that makes people wait 20 years to receive permanent residency will not deter refugees but will leave people in uncertainty and extreme anxiety for years, even decades," adding, "If someone is recognized as a refugee, we should enable them to contribute to and repay their communities."