Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for adopting systems similar to (1) Humanitarian Parole, and (2) the Welcome Corps, used in the USA, in the UK.

The UK has an approach in place to support individuals who do not meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules but where there are exceptional and compassionate reasons for allowing them to remain here. Discretionary Leave allows an individual to be granted leave outside the Immigration Rules if they do not qualify for refugee status or humanitarian protection, or due to exceptional circumstances relating to their family or private life.

The UK already operates two sponsorship schemes which share similarities with the United States’ Welcome Corps initiative. The first is the Community Sponsorship Scheme, launched in 2016, which enables civil society to directly support refugees resettled to the UK through identifying housing and providing integration support. This scheme provides sanctuary to refugees identified and referred by UNHCR for resettlement directly from regions of conflict and instability.

The second is Homes for Ukraine, which launched last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor in the UK who is willing to accommodate them for a minimum of six months.