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London, United Kingdom: The UK government announced sweeping changes to its asylum system on Monday, including drastically cutting protections for refugees and threatening visa bans for countries that refuse to take back irregular immigrants.
The plans have been dubbed by the government as the "most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times".
Refugee protections
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood hopes the reforms, modelled on Denmark's strict asylum system, will discourage migrants from crossing the Channel from France on small boats.
Refugee status will become temporary and reviewed every 30 months. Refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once those are deemed safe.
They will also need to wait for 20 years, instead of the current five, before they can apply for permanent residency.
"We are obliged to offer sanctuary to those who would be in danger if they returned to their country of origin. However, should the regime change in their home country, our approach should change too," the government said in a statement on Monday.
"If someone has fled the rule of one regime, but that regime has since been replaced, it must be possible to return them to that country."
A small number of people from Syria have begun returning on "a voluntary basis following the toppling" of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, it added.
But charities and lawmakers from Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour party slammed the plans, arguing it could result in uprooting refugees who settle in Britain.
The government said children as well as adults could also be forcibly removed under the new measures and that it would launch a consultation on the subject.
Asylum seeker support
The government said it will end a legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers and refugees who face destitution if they have the means to support themselves or if they break the law.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived on small boats this year -- more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022, when the Conservatives were in power.
As of March 2025, over 106,000 asylum seekers received government support.
Home Office minister Alex Norris denied media reports that asylum seekers could have their jewellery confiscated to fund their stays.
The government has also said it will legislate to make it harder for irregular migrants and foreign criminals to use the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop deportation.
Visa bans
Echoing US President Donald Trump's travel bans, the interior ministry threatened to stop granting visas to nationals from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless the countries accepted the returns of their citizens.
Norris told Sky News the countries had "one month to get this in order", adding there were around 4,000 nationals who could be deported.
Other countries could be targeted, including with an "emergency brake" on visas for people from countries with high rates of asylum claims, who travel to the UK by legal routes.
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with around 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.
But the number of initial positive decisions the UK authorities granted fell from 2023 to 2024.
Reactions
The tougher stance has been seen as an attempt to claw back support from the hard-right Reform UK party, which has surged in popularity on the back of public anger over immigration.
Reform's firebrand leader Nigel Farage celebrated the announcements, saying Mahmood "sounds like a Reform supporter".
Kemi Badenoch, leader of the centre-right opposition Conservatives, said the proposed measures were "steps in the right direction" but did not go far enough.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, urged the government to reconsider, warning the plans "will not deter" crossings and refugees who work hard should be able to build "secure, settled lives".
