Boat Migrants: Sunak's asylum 'amnesty'

Thousands of asylum seekers will be granted right to stay in the UK without checks on their claims as Rishi Sunak makes “amnesty” plan to reduce backlog.

More than 12,000 migrants from five countries with the highest asylum success rates will have their applications processed on paper, with the “vast majority” allowed to stay without an interview.

The plan, dubbed “amnesty in all but name”, is set to help the Prime Minister meet his pledge to clear a backlog of more than 90,000 outstanding asylum claims by the end of this year.

Chiefs expect 95 per cent to be given the green light for at least five years, however those who fail to complete the 10-page form “without reasonable explanation” could have their claim withdrawn.

Home Office officials have begun contacting asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Eritrea and Yemen to inform them of a 20-day deadline to fill in return fast-track claim forms.

It follows the last mass asylum acceptance scheme in 2006 when the Labour government introduced a Home Office directorate to clear a backlog of nearly 400,000 asylum cases.

The Government is bracing for a backlog of more than 150,000 asylum claims for the first time in 20 years.

Sunak pledged to clear 92,601 legacy cases – asylum claims submitted by June 2022 - when new asylum rules were introduced through the Nationality and Borders Act.