Thread by @jonfeatonby

The best way of reducing the number of people taking dangerous journeys to reach the UK is to create more safe ways for people to do it.

Yet for the vast majority, it is becoming harder and harder.

#EveryRefugeeMatters

the Home Office is very clear that in order to claim asylum in the UK, a person has to be physically present here.

Yet there is no "asylum visa" to come to the UK to do this.

Many people don't need a visa to be able to travel to the UK - this is true of lots of nationalities. But for those most likely to be in need of international protection, people do.

But when too many people from nationalities that don't need visas start to claim asylum, the UK government changes the rules.

This happened last month for nationals of El Salvador. The Home Office imposed a visa regime because 1,025 people had applied for asylum in the last year

those 1,025 people had, in the Home Office's view, traveled perfectly "legally". But that route was then shut down.

It is now much harder, and more dangerous, for nationals of El Salvador to reach somewhere safe to apply for asylum.

A lot is often talked about the UK's resettlement schemes.

In the year to March 2022, only 1,651 refugees were resettled to the UK. This is down from an average of 5,711 between 2016 and 2019.

Resettlement focuses on the most vulnerable. But it is shrinking, not expanding.

And for those nationalities most likely to be crossing the channel in small boats, very few are resettled.

In the first three months of 2022, Afghans were most likely to be in those boats. But the Afghan Resettlement Scheme has been delayed and is focused on those already here.

Iranians, Eritreans, Iraqis and Sudanese nationals also in the top 7 crossing the channel. Apart from Iraqis, those nationalities all have an asylum grant rate of at least 88% at initial decision.

Only 304 refugees from those countries were resettled in the last 12 months.

Refugee Family Reunion is often held up as a safe way for people to reach the UK (although the Home Office is very clear that it's "not a protection route".)

90% of family reunion visas are granted to women and children, allowing them to travel safely to join their relatives.

But the eligibility is narrow and strict - adult refugees in the UK can sponsor their pre-flight partners/spouses and dependent children under the age of 18.

This should be expanded so more families can be safely reunited (and @SarahLudford's PMB would do just that).

But instead, family reunion is getting harder to access.

The Nationality and Borders Act will limit family reunion rights for "group 2" refugees, reducing the opportunities for families torn apart to safely reunite.

Family reunion applications should normally be decided within 12 weeks. Currently many people are waiting for 6 months or longer as resources are focused on processing Ukrainian visas. A result of the UK not following other countries and removing visa requirements for Ukrainians.

This is leaving applicants for family reunion - predominantly women and children - in vulnerable and potentially dangerous situations while waiting for a decision.

And in England and Wales, since 2012 there has been no legal aid available to help families applying to be reunited.

This is despite clear evidence that the process is far from straightforward (redcross.org.uk/-/media/docume…)

And the UK government still hasn't replaced the elements of the Dublin System that allowed people to reunite with family members in the UK.

Between 2018 and 2020, over 2000 people were able to safely join family members through that system.

Too many people are crossing the channel, putting their lives at risk and relying on smugglers.

But abdicating responsibility for people by sending them halfway around the world, or reducing the rights of those recognised as refugees in the UK, is not going to change that.