Revealed: Asylum seekers ‘living in hell’ as number waiting more than three years for decisions quadruples
The number of migrants waiting more than three years to find out if they have been granted asylum in the UK has more than quadrupled in 18 months as the immigration backlog crisis deepens and thousands of people are left in limbo.
New figures show that there has been a huge surge in asylum seekers waiting many years for an initial decision on their claim.
It comes as home secretary Suella Braverman is expected to announce a “ten-point migration plan” with Gérald Darmanin, her French counterpart.
On Sunday it was confirmed more than 40,000 migrants have made the Channel crossing this year, already thousands more than for the whole of 2021.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has insisted a move towards more basic accommodation is necessary to remove a “pull factor” for those making their way to the UK in small boats.
In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Jenrick said a “chronic shortage of acceptable accommodation” for record numbers of migrants has forced the government to procure expensive and often unsuitable hotels, leaving the taxpayer with an “unacceptable” cost.
The paper reports ministers are considering larger sites to house migrants, including student accommodation, holiday parks and cruise ships
In December 2020 there were 2,284 adults and children who had been awaiting a decision for more than three years. By June 2022 there were 10,276 – a 450 per cent increase, figures obtained by the charity Refugee Council show.
It was revealed at the Home Affairs Committee last month that only 4 per cent of claims by 2021 boat arrivals had been processed.
That means tens of thousands of people are in limbo in hotel accommodation, waiting for a decision on their claims. As well, 33,746 adults have been waiting for more than a year, according to the latest figures.
Another 570 adults had been waiting more than five years for a decision, FOI data from the Home Office showed, while 155 people who were under the age of 18 when they initially made their asylum application are also in this position.
Abu*, who is from Sudan and has been housed in a hotel in Yorkshire for nearly a year, said he was “living in a hell” waiting for news on his asylum application.
Abu, who fled Sudan after the 2021 coup, said he felt depressed and angry. “You feel like you are useless. I started even questioning if I am a useful person? If I get refugee status, will they accept us, or will it continue like this?”
He said he felt like the government was waiting for him to make a mistake, “to do something wrong, because they will try to make you get out of this country.
“The most important thing when you are refugee is reintegration, integrating in the community, feeling you are living a normal life, not like you’re in detention. Here I’m restricted,” he said. Abu has lived in the UK before when his wife was studying at university and he used to work here in the hospitality sector.
Now, on his return, he has found himself unable to work.
“I don’t have credit, I cannot charge my phone. I don’t have enough money. When I go outside, if I went to a new place, I would not be able to get back,” he said.
As of June this year, there were 122,206 people waiting for an initial decision on their asylum claim. This was a fourfold increase in five years, up from 29,522 in December 2017.
The government spends almost £7m a day housing asylum seekers in hotels.
