Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether Pathways 1 and 2 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy are the only safe and legal routes to the United Kingdom for Afghans, including children still stranded in Afghanistan.

The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through existing resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).

Referrals for the UKRS, Community Sponsorship, Mandate Resettlement and Pathway 2 of the ACRS are assessed and submitted by UNHCR. These assessments are based on people’s needs and vulnerabilities and the UK does not seek to influence which cases are referred by UNHCR.

A route for ACRS Pathway 1 Stage 2: Separated Families was opened on 30 July 2024. The window to submit an expression of interest will remain open until 30 October 2024.

Those who have been resettled in the UK under Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 1 and were evacuated during Operation Pitting without their immediate family members can submit an expression of interest under this pathway.

Further information is viewable at: Afghan citizens resettlement scheme: Separated Families Pathway - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The ARAP was launched on 1 April 2021 and remains open. The UK formally opened ACRS on 6 January 2022 and it remains operational.

The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 30,100 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes. We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK.

The data published within the immigration system statistics release Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) provides a breakdown of arrivals by quarter. The number of individuals resettled under the schemes is as follows: 15,592 individuals under ARAP, 9,703 individuals under ACRS Pathway 1, 663 individuals under ACRS Pathway 2 and 1, 207 individuals under ACRS Pathway 3.

Afghan operational data is viewable on Gov.UK.

Afghan operational data is released quarterly with the next publication due around the 24 August 2024.