It is unfair to those with a genuine case for asylum when our capacity to help is taken up by people coming here illegally from countries that are safe and it is unfair to the British people. That is why the Government will deliver a tough but fair approach, so that if someone enters the UK illegally they will be detained immediately and removed to a safe country within weeks – with no ability to make spurious and late claims to frustrate removal.

The Government is doing this by: 

• • Changing the law so that if people come here illegally they will not be able to claim asylum in the UK. For the first time, our Illegal Migration Bill will block asylum based on the mode of entry. This means 90% of arrivals who claimed asylum in 2022 would have their claim heard in Rwanda or another safe third country.
• Increasing our powers to detain and swiftly remove illegal migrants. 
  • If you come here illegally, the Government will be able to detain you for 28 days without recourse to bail from the Immigration Tribunal or judicial review, and the Government will be able to detain you for as long as there is a reasonable prospect of removal.
• Ending illegal entry as a route to modern slavery protection. 
  • If you come here via a small boat or any other illegal way from a safe country, you will have no recourse to our modern slavery system and will be removed to a safe third country or your home country if it is safe. The only narrow exception to delay removal will be if law enforcement requests a stay on removal to allow someone to support an investigation or prosecution against a trafficker.
• Mandating that all claimants must make their claims immediately. 
  • The current system allows you to apply for repeated asylum, modern slavery and human rights appeals to stay in the UK and frustrate removal. Under this legislation, for the first time, you will have to make your entire claim within days of your arrival.
• Making sure the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe and legal route, with an annual cap on the number of refugees. 
  • Since 2015, we have offered sanctuary to over 450,000 people through our global safe and legal routes like Refugee Family Reunion and the UK Resettlement Scheme, as well as our country-specific routes for Ukraine, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and Syria. The Government will now introduce an annual cap for the number of refugees we are able to take on a yearly basis – set by Parliament in consultation with local authorities.

Most recently, the Government has introduced a number of amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill to speed up the removal of people with no right to be here and enhance safeguards to protect unaccompanied children. For more information on the Government’s latest measures to stop the boats in Illegal Immigration Bill, including comments from the Home Secretary, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-measures-to-stop-the-boats-in-illegal-immigration-bill.

To keep up to date with the progress of the Government’s Illegal Migration Bill, please visit: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3429/stages.