The Home Secretary will today announce visa bans for countries that refuse to take back illegal migrants from Britain.
Shabana Mahmood is to unveil a ‘sliding scale’ of penalties for states not accepting failed asylum seekers or foreign criminals.
These measures will range from the removal of fast-track visa services to bans on entry documents for everyone from tourists to government officials.
Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are the first to be formally threatened with the bans, given they have collectively refused to take back more than 4,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals.
These nations will have a month to start co-operating on removals before the sanctions are imposed.
Other countries that may join the list include India, Pakistan and Nigeria.
It comes as Ms Mahmood will today reveal sweeping reforms to bring ‘order and control’ to Britain’s asylum system. Last night she warned that the scale of illegal immigration has ‘destabilised communities’.
She said: ‘The public rightly expect that we can determine who enters this country, and who must leave. We must restore order and control.’
Shabana Mahmood (pictured) is to unveil a ‘sliding scale’ of penalties for states not accepting failed asylum seekers or foreign criminals
Ms Mahmood has copied policies from Denmark, where they are credited with dramatically reducing asylum claims.
Currently those who are granted asylum can apply for permanent settled status after just five years, but Ms Mahmood wants to extend this to 20. In addition, she wants every refugee’s status to be reviewed every 30 months. Those whose countries become safe will be sent home.
Since 2005, asylum seekers have received ‘guaranteed, unconditional financial assistance’ if they would otherwise be destitute. This is being withdrawn.
Support, including housing and weekly allowances, will become discretionary and will be denied to those who can work, have assets, or are disruptive.
Refugees currently have the automatic right to bring their spouses and children to join them in the UK, but this will end. Instead, they will only be allowed to do so if they meet the same financial conditions as migrants arriving on skilled work visas – to show they can pay for their families’ upkeep without having to claim benefits.
A new law will be introduced attempting to force judges to put public safety above the rights of illegal migrants and foreign criminals when considering removal. The Home Office says the balance must be reset because of those using Article 8 under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to a family and private life, to ‘game the system’.
New legislation will stop migrants making last-minute bogus claims to have been trafficked under modern slavery laws. They will also be restricted to a single route of appeal under a new ‘one-stop shop’ in the immigration tribunal system.
The move will try and stem the flow of small boats into the UK and is described by the Home Office as ‘the biggest change to the asylum system since the Second World War’
Ministers intend to discuss restrictions on Article 3 of the ECHR – the prohibition of torture – with the Council of Europe. The Home Office has claimed the definition of ‘inhuman and degrading treatment’ has been expanded with the result that criminals have escaped deportation because of inferior prisons or hospitals in their home countries.
Facial age estimation technology will be used to weed out illegal migrants who pretend to be children to gain preferential treatment from councils. The Home Office says the tests are ‘highly effective’ at determining whether individuals are over 18 or not, as well as being far quicker than bone X-rays and MRI scans.
New safe and legal routes, with numbers capped at unspecified levels, will be created to provide sanctuary for those genuinely fleeing war or persecution. Ministers hope this will reduce demand for the Channel crossings controlled by people-smuggling gangs. Communities will also be able to sponsor refugees in a Ukraine-style scheme.
The toughest aspects of Denmark’s asylum crackdown are the powers of the authorities to confiscate immigrants’ assets when they arrive, and to demolish social housing where more than half of residents are ‘non-western’, dispersing those who live there.
The Home Secretary told Sky News yesterday: ‘We’re not going to be starting to dictate where people live based on percentages.’