UK Home Office Encourages Asylum Seekers to Return Home

The UK Home Office is encouraging those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom to go back to their countries before their cases are even taken up by the department officials, the Guardian reported. The Home Office is voluntarily giving contact numbers and information to asylum seekers about the ways they can head back home before their cases are considered.

In a letter from the Home Office Asylum Routing Team, asylum seekers are told that a date will be sent to them for their main interview. Here they need to provide complete details regarding their cases, according to the report.

When this interview is over, the Home Office official decides whether or not to accept their claim. The letter also contains the heading, “Help and Advice on Returning Home,” under which the details of who to get in touch with at the Home Office are specified for those asylum seekers wanting to return home.

This measure taken by the department is said to be a part of the drive where an unfriendly atmosphere is created for illegal immigrants in Britain. The move has been made despite a 14 per cent drop in the number of asylum claims made in 2017 as compared to 2016, which was to 26,350, according to figures by the Home Office. However, the decline in the numbers has not deterred the department from encouraging asylum seekers in the United Kingdom to return home.

“The team can discuss your return, obtain your travel document and send it to the port of departure, help with the cost of your tickets or provide other practical assistance,” states the letter, as per the report. Those seeking asylum were not provided this information till their application was rejected for many years.

“We will only remove a person from the United Kingdom where the Home Office and the courts agree there is a safe route to return. Informing asylum seekers at an early stage about their options to leave the country on a voluntary basis has been part of Home Office practice for more than 10 years,” a Home Office spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the publication. She added that the Home Office wants to ensure that people are fully aware of all the options available to them as early as possible in the asylum process. “The letters state clearly that these options are voluntary,” she added.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Feb. 22 revealed that about 5,500 Indian citizens sought asylum in the United Kingdom and applied for it in the last five years. A majority of the applications were made after the Indians arrived in the United Kingdom, pointing to the fact that they may have traveled with valid visas and applied for an asylum later.