Dispelling the myths about asylum seekers in the UK

An article by Reanna Smith, a content writer for the Immigration Advice Service. 

A record number of migrant small boat Channel crossings [1] last year has meant that immigration has climbed back up the political agenda in the UK. Priti Patel has promised to overhaul the UK’s asylum system, after claiming that it is “fundamentally broken”.

The Home Secretary has recently revealed her plans for the asylum system, which will see people have their claim assessments based on the way that they arrive in the UK. By deeming some asylum routes as “illegal” the Home Office continues to create serious misconceptions about asylum seekers in Britain and this new overhaul could threaten the human rights of many people fleeing persecution.

Below are the top 5 myths about asylum seekers in the UK, and why they’re wrong. 

1. Small boat crossings are illegal 

As long as a person claims asylum on arrival, it’s not illegal for them to use irregular routes to get to the UK and this doesn’t make them an illegal immigrant.

Article 31 of the Refugee Convention states that asylum seekers cannot be penalised for using irregular routes, and the convention recognises that safe routes may not be available to many asylum seekers.

Due to COVID-19, the safe routes that are available to asylum seekers have been suspended. Even when they are open, there are just a few safe routes, known as resettlement schemes, for asylum seekers attempting to enter the UK. They include the Syrian Resettlement Programme (VPRS), the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS), the family reunification programme (MRS) and the Gateway Protection Programme (GPP). To be eligible, asylum seekers must either be classed as a vulnerable child, already have family in the UK or must have been living in resettlement camps. This means that there is a significant lack of options for asylum seekers who need to flee their homes quickly due to imminent danger.

If the Home Office truly intends to prevent dangerous migrant crossings, then they must provide safe routes that can actually be used by most asylum seekers. This would include allowing asylum seekers to make a claim from outside of the UK, so that they could board safe transport without the need for a visa. Until then, small boat crossings are the only hope of safety for many.

2. Asylum seekers must stop in the first safe country they arrive in

There’s no international law that states that asylum seekers must make their claim in the first safe country they arrive in. What we may deem as a safe country to us in the UK, may not be safe for an asylum seeker. For example, countries that they may pass through might not be signatories of the 1951 Refugee Convention, meaning they wouldn’t get protection. 

Asylum seekers choose to come to the UK for a variety of reasons, including having friends or family here or having the ability to speak English, making it much easier for them to find work and settle in the UK.  

3. The UK takes in a disproportionate amount of refugees

The UK doesn’t take in a disproportionate number of refugees compared to other countries. In fact, the UK is home to only 1% of the global refugee population [2], this is equal to just 0.26% of the UK population [3]. In comparison, Lebanon has a refugee population of over 20% [4]. Even when compared to countries within the EU, Germany, France, Spain and Greece all take in much higher amounts of refugees than the UK. 

4. Asylum seekers in the UK are all young men 

The majority of asylum seekers in the UK are men (53% in 2019 [5]) but a significant proportion are women (24%) and children (23%). Right-wing political figures and the tabloid press have portrayed male asylum seekers in a negative light [6], suggesting that if an asylum seeker is a “strong, young, male” they may not be “real asylum seekers”. There is no such thing as a bogus asylum seeker, and men have just as much of a right to claim asylum as women and children, having often experienced torture and other forms of persecution under oppressive regimes. 

Many men also choose to make the journey alone due to the dangerous risks involved. Once they have been granted asylum in the UK, their families can join them here using the much safer route of family reunification. 

5. Asylum seekers are just economic migrants, here to abuse our benefits system

According to the Migration Observatory, the most common countries of nationality of people seeking asylum in the UK in 2019 were Iran, Albania, Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and of all the refugees resettled in the UK from January 2010 to May 2020, around 70% were Syrian nationals [7]. The common trend between these countries is that they all have ongoing conflicts or poor human rights records, so citizens from these countries have very valid reasons for seeking asylum in the UK. 

Tabloid news and the likes of Nigel Farage would like us to believe that asylum seekers are housed in luxury accommodation and given vast government handouts but the reality for asylum seekers in the UK is quite bleak. 

Asylum seekers don’t have the right to work whilst their claims are being processed, which usually takes over 6 months. They’re only given money and accommodation if they can prove they are destitute. Even when they do receive this, the payment is just £37.75 a week. They cannot choose their accommodation. Recently, the Home Office was criticized for housing hundreds of asylum seekers in ex-military barracks [8] that were ruled as not suitable for accommodation. 

Asylum seekers can only access the UK’s benefits system once they are granted refugee status, and to be granted this they must first go through the Home Office’s rigorous asylum process. 

Reanna Smith is a content writer for the Immigration Advice Service, a law firm that assists asylum seekers and people all over the world with their immigration issues. 

[1] Heather Barrigan, "Channel Crossings in 2021 and tht Future of Asylum in the UK" , Immigrationews.co.uk, January 2021.

[2] The Refugee Council, “The truth about asylum”, https://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/information/refugee-asylum-facts/the-truth-about-asylum/

[3] Refugee Action, “Facts about refugees”, https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/about/facts-about-refugees/

[4] European Commission, “Lebanon”, March 2021, https://ec.europa.eu/echo/where/middle-east/lebanon_en.

[5] AIDA, “Statistics”, March 2021, https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/united-kingdom/statistics/

[6] Jon Austin, “EXCLUSIVE: Close to 80 per cent of asylum seekers in the UK are MEN, says refugee charity”, The Express, November 2016.

[7] The Migration Observatory, “Asylum and refugee resettlement in the UK”, December 2020

[8] Olusegun Akinfenwa, “Inspection of barracks housing asylum seekers confirmed”, immigrationnews.co.uk, February 2021