8 February 2008 To mark Ash Wednesday leaders of Christian faith traditions in West Yorkshire issued a statement of support for asylum seekers, calling for a more humane asylum system, for the right to work for asylum seekers and for better legal representation. The church leaders also praised the great work many people in West Yorkshire do supporting refugees and asylum seekers, noting that it demonstrates that “at a community level Britain shows a welcoming face to people fleeing persecution, in contrast to the Government’s approach which has become a cause for national shame.” The church leaders statement was reported in the Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post, Huddersfield Examiner, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio York, BBC Look North, ITV Calendar and Radio Aire.

See also

To see the full list of church leaders and their statement see http://www.wyec.co.uk/

6 December 2007A proposal to use a new Government Bill to simplify immigration law has received positive feedback, the Home Office revealed today. (more…)

5 December 2007The countdown to the transformation of the immigration system began today when the Home Secretary announced new rules for highly skilled foreign workers applying to come to the UK. (more…)

Quarterly asylum, accession monitoring and citizenship statistics published today Britain’s tougher border controls have led to the lowest level of asylum applications in 15 years, according to statistics published by the Home Office today.At the same time, the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) revealed it has removed a record 3,500 foreign national prisoners so far this year, and this quarter (July to September) has overseen a 15 per cent increase in all enforced removals and voluntary returns (to 6,330) compared to the same period last year.Altogether this year 45,000 people have been removed from the UK, as quarterly enforced returns matched the all time high of 2003. (more…)

19 November 2007 Refugee Council calls on the UK government to halt all deportations to Iraq immediately and do more to address the growing refugee crisis.Two years to the day from the first forced removals flight to Iraq (20 November 2005), the Refugee Council today condemns this practice and urge the UK government to address the growing refugee crisis as a matter of urgency. (more…)

Refugee Action is dismayed that a court decision at the House of Lords on 14 November (see link below) has cleared the way for the forced return of Darfuri refugees to the Sudanese capital.

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Hand-to-mouth existence of Manchester’s destitute

asylum seekers

Independent Asylum Commission: Asylum Support and Destitution

12 October 2007

ASYLUM SEEKERS and refugees will tell an independent hearing how they have been forced into a desperate hand-to-mouth existence on the streets of Manchester after their claims were turned down.

A coalition of local agencies headed by Refugee Action has identified asylum seekers and refugees from global trouble spots including Darfur, Ethiopia and Somalia, who will tell the Independent Asylum Commission how they came to be destitute, why they fear returning to their country and how they have survived with no support and no right to work.

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Voluntary returns programmes

A refugee or asylum seeker may decide to leave the UK and return to their country of origin. A host of reasons and factors may influence the decision to return but care needs to be taken before any decision is made to return. If a person returns to the country of origin, then s/he may lose permission to stay and a right of entry to the UK.

A person can choose to make their own arrangements to leave the UK independently. But there are also assisted return programmes which offer help to leave the UK and assistance back in the country of return. Each programme has its own rules about who is eligible for help and the type of assistance it provides.

The assisted voluntary return programmes described are not run by the Refugee Council.

NASS Policy has advised that applications for work permission under the EU Directive must be made to

the IND Asylum Casework Directorate. Only the main asylum applicant can request permission to work

which will be considered by an asylum caseworker. The Directive (and the Immigration Rules) state that

permission to work can be denied if the delay in dealing with the asylum claim can be attributed to the

claimant, only the asylum caseworker can determine this. There is no one IND department dealing with

requests for permission to work. Those wishing to seek permission should write to IND Asylum Casework

Directorate quoting their HO reference number.

You can apply for permission to work if:

􀂃 (more…)

THE CLANNEBOR PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Clannebor Project (“Clann” is Gaelic for family; “Ebor” is Latin for York), is a pilot project currently being run by the Border and Immigration Agency based at Leeds Waterside.
The project has been designed to encourage families who are appeal rights exhausted (ARE), and who have no basis to remain in the UK, to depart voluntarily. It actively promotes IOM and voluntary departure at every point in the process.
A number of families have been selected for the pilot, and it includes a wide cross-section of nationalities. (more…)