Asked by: Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Afghan women who have applied for asylum in the UK since the fall of Kabul in 2021 have been denied that status; and what provision they are making for such women and their families.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum claims and initial decisions by nationality in tables Asy_D01 and Asy_D02 of the 'Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release' on GOV.UK. The latest data relates to 2024. Data for the year ending March 2025 will be published on 22 May 2025.
In 2021 Q3 to 2024 Q4, there have been 137 refusals at initial decision to adult Afghan women, of which 44 were to main applicants and 93 to dependants.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2025 to Question 35834 on Immigration: Afghanistan, how many people who have been resettled or relocated under the Afghan Resettlement Programme were granted (a) Indefinite Leave to Enter and (b) Indefinite Leave to Remain (i) before and (ii) after 15th August 2021.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) brings together existing Afghan resettlement ACRS & ARAP into a single, efficient pipeline.
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was launched on 1 April 2021. The UK formally opened the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) on 6 January 2022.
Statistics on individuals resettled or relocated under the Afghan schemes are available in the Immigration System Statistics release. For a summary of the data, see the resettlement section of the ‘How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes?’ chapter; for detailed data, see table Asy_D02 of the asylum and resettlement datasets.
Afghan Operational Data is published quarterly and is viewable at: Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK
The latest release was on the 27 February 2025.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2025 to Question 30711 on Resettlement: Afghanistan, how many Afghans have arrived in the UK (a) legally and (b) illegally since 15 August 2021.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office published the information you have requested by quarter in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release.
Data on the outcomes of entry clearance visas by nationality are published in table ‘Vis_D02’ of the detailed entry clearance dataset. A visa grant does not necessarily mean that the person arrived in the UK. For data on arrivals specifically via the Afghan Resettlement Programme, see table ‘Asy_D02’ of the detailed asylum and resettlement datasets.
Data on detected irregular arrivals by nationality is published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’.
The latest data goes up to the end of December 2024. Data up to the end of March 2025 is due to be published on 22 May 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ pages of the workbooks.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what safe routes are available to asylum seekers into the United Kingdom; and what criteria (a) Border Security Command and (b) other enforcement agencies use to distinguish asylum seekers from illegal migration.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the considerable number of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
Nonetheless, there are options available for individuals who wish to come to the UK. Our global resettlement schemes include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Alongside these schemes, we operate specific schemes for those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan, and an immigration route for British National (overseas) status holders from Hong Kong. Our refugee family reunion policy also allows immediate family members of those granted protection in the UK to stay with them or join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 28425 on Afghanistan: Resettlement, how many and what proportion of Afghan family members who have applied to come to the UK as a dependent under the Afghan Resettlement Programme have failed vetting.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Afghan Resettlement Programme, announced by the Defence Secretary on 18 December 2024, is not in itself an immigration scheme, but a single delivery pipeline to improve efficiency in the end to end relocation and in-UK resettlement of those arriving on our Afghan schemes.
The latest published statistics for arrivals under the Afghan schemes can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc514298ea2db44faddd4f/asylum-summary-dec-2024-tables.ods.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 28425 on Afghanistan: Resettlement, how many and what proportion of Afghans who have applied to the Afghan Resettlement Programme have failed vetting.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
The Afghan Resettlement Programme, announced by the Defence Secretary on 18 December 2024, is not in itself an immigration scheme, but a single delivery pipeline to improve efficiency in the end to end relocation and in-UK resettlement of those arriving on our Afghan schemes.
The latest published statistics for arrivals under the Afghan schemes can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67bc514298ea2db44faddd4f/asylum-summary-dec-2024-tables.ods.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan nationals have arrived via small boats since August 2021.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Home Office publishes statistics on small boat arrivals to the UK in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on detected irregular arrivals by method of entry and nationality is published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’ with the latest data up to the end of September 2024. Data up to the end of December 2024 is due to be published on 27 February 2025.
Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghans who initially arrived in the UK by small boat are now part of the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Individuals who arrive in the UK via small boat are not considered to meet the requirements for a grant of permission to remain in the UK, and are not therefore expected to be included in any of our resettlement schemes.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2025 to Question 28425 on Afghanistan: Resettlement, how many and what proportion of the total number of Afghans in the UK arrived via the Afghan Resettlement Programme.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Afghan Resettlement Programme, announced by the Defence Secretary on 18 December 2024, is not in itself an immigration scheme, but a single delivery pipeline to improve efficiency in the end to end relocation and in-UK resettlement of those arriving on our Afghan schemes.
The latest published statistics for arrivals under the Afghan schemes can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6745f99683f3d6d843be975e/asylum-summary-sep-24-tables.ods.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department considers Afghanistan to be a safe country for asylum returns.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our assessment of the general situation in Afghanistan is set out in the relevant country policy and information notes, which are available on the GOV.UK website.
All asylum and human rights claims from Afghan nationals are carefully considered on their individual merits in accordance with our international obligations.