Asylum pressure escalates in Ministry of Interior amid Afghanistan crisis | Immigration and Asylum

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When it comes to providing housing for asylum seekers and refugees, the Home Office is facing a perfect storm: a huge backlog in processing asylum applications, the pandemic, and now the rapidly unfolding refugee crisis due to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

But while the cocktail is unprecedented, the overall numbers the Home Office is dealing with are not.

In the year to March 2021, 26,903 asylum applications were lodged, down 24% from the previous year. The decline in refugee resettlement was even more severe. Between March 2014 and February 2021, the UK resettled 20,319 people under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. A new scheme launched this year before the Afghan crisis unfolded – the UK resettlement scheme – resettled just 25 people in the first three months of the year. So it cannot be said that this scheme was inundated with the newcomers right before the Taliban seized power.

Previously, the Home Office’s goal was to make preliminary decisions on 98% of direct asylum applications within six months. By May 2019, I had given up on that goal. At the end of March 2021, 66,185 people were waiting for a decision on their asylum application, of whom 50,084 – 76% – had been waiting for more than six months.

There is speculation that the delays are due to the Home Office’s unwillingness to appear “soft touch” by granting asylum applications very quickly, including those for direct and genuine protection. It is also assumed that processing these claims within the Ministry of Interior is not a priority.

The pandemic has also exacerbated the impasse in asylum accommodations as evictions of those no longer eligible have been halted. All of this means that people are staying longer in unsafe housing.

This low level of accommodation in some hotels and group housing is well documented, with frequent reports of everything from inedible food served in hotels to crickets and collapsed roofs. Some vulnerable asylum seekers have even been ordered to be re-hosted from hotels and other housing by the Supreme Court due to their residency criteria.

Organizations such as the Refugee Council and Care4Calais have documented poor conditions in recent reports.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said that of the hundreds of asylum seekers housed in hotels his organization worked with, some reported being abandoned without the support they needed.

“Some have been left for months on end in complete despondency and sometimes even suicidal. It is critical that everyone staying in hotels receives appropriate support, including access to legal advice, health care, basic clothing and basic services.”

Claire Moseley, founder of the charity Care4Calais, which provides on-the-ground support to asylum seekers and refugees, said the Home Office’s plan to resettle Afghan nationals appears to be better organized than some other accommodation initiatives, with relocation plans in place. For this group after a short initial period in hotels.

But she said many problems persisted. The Home Office’s goal appears to be to grant asylum to as few people as possible rather than granting it to people who really need it. This leads to unnecessary legal challenges that lead to system delays and waste of resources.”

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