Monitoring Desk
LONDON/ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom has been planning to fast-track certain asylum applications in a bid to clear a backlog of over 160,000 applications.
An official data released on Thursday showed the backlog of those waiting for a decision hit a record number of over 160,000 in 2022. Thousands of applicants from specific countries will be sent a short questionnaire rather than automatically facing an interview, suggests a leaked document seen by the British media.
The questionnaires will be sent to asylum-seekers from Libya, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Syria whose acceptance rate for some kind of protection currently stands at over 90pc. The move has angered both sides of the debate on immigration issue with the Red Cross warning it could have a “devastating impact” on vulnerable refugees, while the right wing newspaper the Daily Mail said it amounted to an “amnesty” for 12,000 migrants.
UK asylum-seekers
A total of 160,919 asylum seekers were awaiting a decision as of end 2022 and 109,641 of them have been waiting for more than six months. The total represents a rise of 17,542 since September last year and an annual increase of more than 60,000.
Prime Minister UK, Rishi Sunak has pledged to reduce the backlog by the end 2023, and also to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel to the United Kingdom. More than 45,000 migrants crossed the Channel into the United Kingdom from mainland Europe last year, surpassing the 2021’s record by more than 17,000.
