People seeking asylum in the UK waiting more than five years for a decision on their claim

Asylum applications in the UK are at their highest for 32 years, but nearly 100,000 people are waiting more than six months to have their claims processed.

Over 40,000 refugees in the UK have been forced to wait between one to three years for a decision on their asylum seeker status, Refugee Council figures show.

Official Government Immigration statistics show there were 72,027 asylum applications in the UK in the year ending September 2022.

This is more than double the number in 2019, higher than at the peak of the European Migration crisis and the highest number of applications for almost 2 decades (since 2003).

Government policy

At the end of September 2022, there were 117,400 cases (relating to 143,377 people) waiting on an initial decision.

Figures also show 725 people – 155 of them children – have been waiting more than five years for a decision from the Home Office.

The government's proposals to deal with this imbalance are anchored on preventative measures.

In April the government announced a plan to outsource asylum seekers to Rwanda, they claimed this would reduce the number crossing the English Channel.

The number of crossings have not fallen since the policy was announced.

In November Rishi Sunak's government announced a £63m deal with France to reduce the number of people attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.

In Early December Sunak made a statement in the Commons that promised the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from a global asylum system early next year.

Research by the University of East London

Giorgia Dona is Professor of Forced Migration and Refugee studies and the co-director of the Centre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging at the University of East London.

She has worked for more than three decades as a researcher and activist with displaced populations and refugees in Central and North America, Eastern Africa and Europe.

Here, Professor Dona discusses how the political landscape in the UK regarding refugees has changed and how this has informed patterns in the publics perception of immigration.

Filling the employment gap

The UN Refugee Agency defines an asylum seeker as someone who has applied for shelter and protection in another country.

A refugee is a person who has fled conflict or persecution in their country.

The legal rights of refugees are protected by international law, it is up to host countries to grant asylum seekers refugee status.

Visa Type	Year Ending Dec 2019	Year Ending Sept 2022	%Change
Worker	63,757	145,258	128%
Temp Worker	40,914	72,997	78%
Investor, Business development	2,780	3,416	23%
Other Work Visas and Exemptions	29,601	27,248	-8%
Total	137,052	248,919	82%

Asylum seekers aren't allowed to work or claim benefits until they have had their refugee status recognised despite often being highly educated and skilled workers.

As the table above shows, there has been a 128% increase of workers coming into the UK to seek asylum between 2019 and 2022.

This means a backlog of 143,377 people are stuck in limbo, unable to work amidst a rise of economic inactivity in the UK and unemployment close to its lowest level since the mid 1970’s.

Tamana Safi's story

Tamana Safi discusses her life in Afghanistan before she came to the UK.

Tamana Safi is an Afghan refugee and recent graduate of the University of East London.

Safi fled Afghanistan with her family in 2018, she is now officially a refugee having had her asylum seeker status successfully recognised after three years.

The USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, almost immediately after Saudi Islamist, Osama bin Laden made his first documented trip to Afghanistan to aid anti-Soviet fighters.

By 1995 the newly formed Islamic militia, the Taliban, had risen to power.

In 2001 a U.S. led coalition began attacks on Afghanistan against the Taliban followed by a ground invasion that forced the Taliban out of Kabul.

The attack lasted two decades until U.S. forces were withdrawn in 2021 under President Joe Biden.

After the U.S. withdrawal, the Islamic fundamentalist group returned to power.

Afghanistan has been left without a functioning government to provide health services and economic opportunities to Afghans.

The Taliban regime requires women to be fully veiled and in 2022 ordered an indefinite ban on higher education for women in the country.

Safi witnessed multiple bomb blasts around her offices and lost two colleagues who were individually targeted and shot dead by the Taliban while leaving their homes for work.

Tamana Safi in her previous job in Kabul’s presidential palace (Tamana Safi)

Tamana Safi in her previous job in Kabul’s presidential palace (Tamana Safi)

Safi claimed asylum with her family but the Home Office registered each family member individually.

The official rules in the Home Office say that a decision on a claim must be made within 6 months.

However, it took the Home Office 3 years and 3 months to make a decision on Safi's asylum case.

During those three years Safi repeatedly tried to contact the Home Office but received no response.

Accommodation for asylum seekers

The Home Office is understood to be assessing larger, more basic sites to house asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their claim.

This includes unused student accommodation and holiday parks.

With most unable to work, asylum seekers are forced to apply to receive asylum support set around £5.84 per day, for those in hotels it is £1.18 a day.

These issues have been exacerbated by UK food prices rising at their fastest rate for 45 years.

Safi said: "The houses to accommodate asylum seekers are a nightmare to live in.

"Unfortunately, we were put in a terrible house after spending 9 months in a hostel.

"The house was not suitable for my parent's medical needs, so we requested relocation and then we were placed in the countryside.

"Although the university that I started through securing a scholarship was in London, we were placed outside London and the Home Office responded saying: 'higher education is not on the priority list of the UK Home Office.'

"With no recourse to public funds and being housed miles away from my university this was really a tough period for me. "

Tamana Safi at her home in the UK (Tamana Safi)

Tamana Safi at her home in the UK (Tamana Safi)

People who are trying to help

Anneke Elwes is the founder and Director of HostNation, a charity service that offers friendship and social opportunities to asylum seekers and refugees.

Elwes explained HostNation’s members befriend those seeking asylum and make plans to meet up to participate in city life.

Elwes said: “The kindness of strangers through befriending shows that there's so much to do for free in London if only you knew how.

“Small acts of kindness can make an enormous difference to someone who is socially isolated in this hostile environment."

The length of time the Home office takes to sort out peoples claims makes their lives even more unstable.

Elwes said: “Asylum seekers and refugees have very little personal agency.

“We have a very broken system in the Home Office.

“Bureaucracy is completely broken and the system is completely broken.”

Asylum seekers often have to go through a lengthy and expensive process of seeking appeal if their claim is not granted the first time round.

However, the vast majority are ultimately granted asylum due to strong claims for humanitarian protection.

Elwes said: “Normally when we go to the court of law we believe you're innocent until proven guilty but with refugees and asylum seekers it's the other way round.

“I have witnessed it on many occasions.

“The Home Office just wants to prove you’re guilty.”

Looking forward

Climate driven movement of people is adding to massive migration already underway across the world.

Large populations will need to migrate, not just to the nearest city but across the world.

Elwes said: "There's always going to be refugees who need to build their life somewhere.

“We need some future for them and some hope.”

The Home Office have been contacted for comment.