Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of amending (a) visa and (b) asylum routes for people fleeing conflict in Sudan with British national immediate family members in the UK by (i) waiving income rules, (ii) allowing asylum applications to be made in third party countries and (c) bringing forward other measures to help reunite families separated by conflict.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Sudanese nationals who wish to come to the UK to join a family member here need a family visa. Applications can be made for a family visa to live with a spouse or partner; fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner; parent; child; relative who is providing care.
The financial requirements form part of the ‘core’ requirements of the Family Immigration Rules. Expecting family migrants and their sponsors to be financially independent is reasonable, both to them and the taxpayer.
However, where someone cannot meet the core requirements, including those relating to finances, permission will still be granted where refusal would breach Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
As part of the Immigration White Paper reforms, the government intends to set out a new family policy that will cover all UK residents, including those who are British, settled, on work routes or refugees seeking to bring family members to the UK.
The UK has a proud history of providing protection and we continue to welcome refugees and people in need through our 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. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, including the current situation in Sudan, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might wish to come here. It is important that safe and legal routes are sustainable, well managed and in line with the UK’s capacity to welcome, accommodate and integrate refugees. We do not currently have any plans to open a specific route for people affected by the conflict in Sudan.
Additionally, the recently announced Asylum Policy Statement set out a new model for refugee resettlement. We will give greater say to communities and support refugees as they settle, become self-sufficient, and contribute to their local areas. This new model will be based on local capacity to support refugees, and arrival numbers will be tightly controlled by the government.
To achieve this, we will:
• Reform refugee sponsorship to give voluntary and community sector organisations a greater role in resettlement through named sponsorship, within caps set by government.
• Introduce a capped route for refugee and displaced students to study in the UK, helping talented refugees to continue their studies, realise their potential and be able to return to their country and help rebuild it as soon as circumstances allow.
• Establish a capped route for skilled refugees and displaced people to come to the UK for work, building on the experience of the Displaced Talent Mobility Pilot.
Our intention is that those arriving on the reformed resettlement routes will be on the ten-year route to settlement. However, this will be subject to wider consultation.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, within the context of her asylum statement on 17 November 2025, if those arriving in the UK via safe and legal routes to seek asylum will have to wait for 20 years for indefinite settled status if they are recognised as refugees.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Our intention is that individuals arriving through reformed Safe and Legal resettlement routes will follow a ten-year path to settlement with the possibility of reducing this period based on contribution, in line with wider settlement reforms. This approach is subject to further consultation.
We are introducing transformative changes to Safe and Legal routes that will fundamentally reshape how the UK offers opportunities to refugees. Work is underway at pace to operationalise these new routes, and further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her plan to offer permanent settlement to refugees only after 20 years residence in the UK will apply to people currently (a) in the asylum system and (b) holding refugee status.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We will carefully manage the transition into the new system - avoiding any risk of a 'closing down sale'. That is why we will seek to put in place transitional provisions to ensure that the offer remains clear and fair.
Refugees who are given core protection will be able to switch into a new, bespoke work and study route to access family reunion and settlement rights with new fees and conditions in accordance with the rules of that route. This will enable them to earn down their length of time before they can settle in the UK from 20 years.
Settlement requirements will be considered in an upcoming consultation on earned settlement, covering both legal and illegal migrants.
Asked by: Euan Stainbank (Labour - Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Statement on Asylum Policy of 17 of November, Official Report column 509, what the length of time for settlement for refugees who successfully apply through that route will be.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
These details are subject to further policy development which will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussion she has had with her counterparts at the UN on the resettlement of Rohingya refugees.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer provided to question 77966 on 20 October 2025.
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in the last 12 months who were categorised as (1) refugees, (2) having pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (3) having settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (4) having indefinite leave to remain, and (5) having limited leave to remain.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (see attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from August 2024 to July 2025. The additional breakdowns requested for the EU Settlement Scheme are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status each month from August 2024 to July 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Jul-25 | 6,702,864 | 770,213 | 54,259 | 120,040 | 213,666 | 75,471 | 33,387 | 31,340 |
Jun-25 | 6,567,506 | 764,429 | 53,810 | 117,623 | 210,513 | 74,694 | 32,998 | 29,912 |
May-25 | 6,457,433 | 763,687 | 78,323 | 90,709 | 208,348 | 74,322 | 32,880 | 30,789 |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Mar-25 | 6,321,762 | 764,489 | 76,418 | 91,350 | 198,973 | 76,960 | 32,829 | 32,315 |
Feb-25 | 6,249,383 | 762,478 | 75,466 | 90,619 | 194,303 | 76,918 | 32,866 | 33,054 |
Jan-25 | 6,138,815 | 757,768 | 68,526 | 95,882 | 187,556 | 77,237 | 31,908 | 34,060 |
Dec-24 | 6,104,580 | 759,179 | 53,291 | 112,472 | 179,482 | 79,539 | 32,141 | 34,792 |
Nov-24 | 6,034,441 | 755,941 | 52,210 | 113,186 | 165,869 | 86,973 | 31,783 | 35,770 |
Oct-24 | 5,935,808 | 748,299 | 51,214 | 110,816 | 160,615 | 89,054 | 30,840 | 37,059 |
Sep-24 | 5,862,022 | 739,155 | 51,132 | 110,535 | 159,504 | 88,326 | 29,957 | 38,184 |
Aug-24 | 5,760,130 | 734,637 | 51,309 | 110,834 | 155,939 | 87,182 | 29,451 | 39,332 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75606 on Community Development: English Language, what estimate she has made of the cost to her Department for providing English language support to people in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office has invested in programmes to facilitate refugees’ access to English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision.
The ESOL Childcare Fund provided support for individuals resettled under the UK Resettlement Scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance policy, to enable participation in ESOL classes. In 2024-25, we allocated £1.8 million to this fund. This programme closed at the end of the 2024-25 financial year.
The ESOL Coordinator function provides a co-ordinated approach to English language across Strategic Migration Partnership (SMP) regions. We provide a grant of £30,000 to 12 SMP regions to fund this role. For 2024-25 and 2025-26, £360,000 was granted per year under this programme.
The Home Office developed the STEP Ahead programme, which ran from October 2024 – March 2025, to test an innovative intensive digital approach to delivering English language training and employment support to refugees. We allocated £700,000 to this programme in the 2024-25 financial year.
Asked by: Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice - North Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the employment rate of refugees in Northern Ireland in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Data on refugees by location and nationality is available in the Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release on GOV.UK.
Please note that individuals only receive refugee status once their asylum claim is granted. The Home Office does not track the addresses of those granted refugee status, and refugees are free to relocate within the UK or leave the country.
The latest available data covers up to the end of June 2025. Guidance on using the datasets can be found on the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
The Home Office does not hold data on the employment rate of refugees in Northern Ireland. The employment rate of refugees in England and Wales between 2015 and 2021 was 37% for asylum route refugees and 12% for resettlement refugees.
Asked by: Jim Allister (Traditional Unionist Voice - North Antrim)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many refugees there are by nationality in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
Data on refugees by location and nationality is published in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK.
Data on resettled refugees by UK region is published in table Res_D01 and by nationality in table Res_D02 of the resettlement detailed datasets.
Data on asylum seekers in receipt of support, by nationality and UK region, is published in table Asy_D09 of the asylum support datasets. An asylum seeker does not receive refugee status until after their claim is granted refugee permission. Please note that the Home Office does not track the addresses of those granted refugee status, and refugees are free to move around the UK or leave.
The latest data is available up to the end of June 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Abtisam Mohamed (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to implement a permanent framework for refugee students to study in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Immigration White Paper published on 12 May announced a review of the UK’s existing refugee resettlement and sponsorship schemes. This will ensure that there is a framework which allows businesses, universities and communities to sponsor refugees to live, work and study in the UK. Further details will be set out in due course.