Refugees granted asylum in the UK will face a £10,000 debt before they can settle permanently, under new government plans that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said would make migrants "repay the generosity of the British people."
The flat-rate repayment, part of the upcoming Immigration and Asylum Bill, applies to all adults who have received asylum support and later find work earning above a certain threshold. The Home Office has not yet set the earnings threshold or repayment instalment amounts, but the full £10,000 must be paid before a refugee becomes eligible for settled status. Those whose claims are rejected and leave the country will also have to repay the costs before they can return to the UK.
“Refugees in the UK will have to repay around £10,000 in asylum support costs before they can settle permanently.”
Mahmood said the changes would demonstrate that "asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility," adding: "Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so." She noted that the cost of asylum accommodation on the British taxpayer "is too high," and that the government has already reduced asylum costs by £1bn.
But refugee charities condemned the plan as punitive. Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said the scheme was "unfair, impractical" and amounted to "an extra tax on refugees." He argued: "When somebody is granted refugee status, that should be a moment for them to finally feel safe and supported. Instead, they would now face an unavoidable £10,000 debt, making their road to permanent settlement much more difficult."
Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, said the measures moved the asylum system "in a more restrictive direction," with the government appearing to tighten it "as much as they can while still remaining compliant with international refugee law and human rights law." She warned that the scheme would likely raise only a "relatively small" amount of money because it targets a "very low-income population," and could have the unintended effect of "discouraging [asylum seekers] from working once they get refugee status because they face a higher effective tax rate."
Home Office statistics show that 60% of asylum seekers who were in employment eight years after their claim was granted were earning minimum wage or less. The government spent around £4bn on supporting asylum seekers last year, with average accommodation costs of £23.25 per night in private rented housing and £144 in hotels, while weekly subsistence payments range from £9.95 to £49.18 per person.
The home secretary will have the power to adjust the charge and repayment thresholds in the future to ensure they are "both fair to the taxpayer and will not force any migrant into destitution," according to the Home Office.
The bill is expected to be laid before parliament as part of the government's broader immigration overhaul.