Britain to announce ‘most significant’ change to asylum rules in years, setting Europe’s longest route to settlement

People swim to try and board a migrant dinghy into the English Channel in August 2025 in Gravelines, France. Migrant crossings by boat have caused much controversy in the UK, with far-right groups organizing demonstrations outside hotels housing migrants across the country. (Carl Court/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

London — Britain plans to carry out the most significant reform of its asylum policy in modern times by making refugee status temporary and quadrupling the wait for permanent settlement to 20 years, as the Labour government confronts a “broken” asylum system that has fueled support for right-wing parties.

After a summer of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, a mass anti-immigration demonstration in London, and constant criticism from the surging hard-right Reform UK party, the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced plans to curb illegal small-boat crossings from France and return refugees to their home countries when it is safe to do so.

“We have a system that is out of control,” Mahmood told the BBC on Sunday.

“It’s unfair, and it’s putting huge pressure on communities. It is important that we restore order and control to this system, so that we can retain public permission and public confidence in having an asylum system at all.”

The government’s plan, which will be unveiled in full on Monday, has two main prongs. First, ending the “automatic path” to settled status after a refugee has been in Britain for five years. Under the changes, a refugee’s status will now be reviewed every two-and-a-half years during a 20-year wait before they can apply for permanent settlement.

Mahmood said this measure will upend the “generations-old assumption” that sanctuary provided to refugees can quickly lead to settled status “and all of the rights that go alongside that.”

“If your country becomes safe in the intervening period… you will be returned to your country,” Mahmood stressed. Those who arrive legally will also face a 10-year pathway to permanent settlement, double the current wait.

Second, housing and weekly allowances will be removed from those who have a right to work and can support themselves but choose not to. Those who break the law will also have their support withdrawn. Mahmood said: “It is not fair if British citizens and long-term residents in this country have to follow one set of rules and comply, and another group of people – who also have the right to work – get away with not complying.”

The new policy takes inspiration from Denmark’s approach, one of the toughest in Europe. But Britain is now poised to go further: The new 20-year route would make Britain’s path to settlement the longest in Europe, followed by Denmark’s eight-year process.

Since winning a landslide election in 2024, Labour has tried to tread a line between showing competence in tackling illegal immigration, without alienating its more progressive voter base which favors a more compassionate approach.

Both sides have been left alienated: Right-wing voters support the more drastic measures proposed by Nigel Farage, the firebrand leader of Reform U.K., while many on the left have been alarmed by Labour’s tough talk.

But Mahmood, herself the daughter of immigrants from the Pakistani side of Kashmir, said she rejected “the idea that dealing with this problem is somehow engaging with far-right talking points.”

“This is a moral mission for me, because I can see illegal migration is tearing our country apart. It is dividing communities. People can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken, and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system, and get away with it,” she said.

The Home Secretary also criticized the previous Conservative government for wasting time and public funds in its failed efforts to tackle illegal immigration. The Conservatives passed a contentious bill allowing the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda for their claims to be processed by the East African nation, but Mahmood said this cost £700 million (US$920) and saw only four people deported – all volunteers.

In a measure of the hardening of Britain’s debate around immigration, other mainstream parties did not forcefully criticize Labour’s plans. Chris Philp, who used to be a Conservative home office minister, told the BBC his party would support the new measures if they are “sensible,” while claiming the measures aren’t “radical” enough.

Ed Davey, leader of the more progressive Liberal Democrats, also said Labour is right to announce asylum measures to “tackle the chaos.”

The Denmark model

The U.K.’s new policy draws inspiration from Denmark and other European countries where refugee status is temporary, support is conditional and integration is expected.

In a video on X, Mahmood said she was taking action because asylum claims are rising in Britain despite falling across other parts of Europe. “In the last four years, 400,000 people claimed asylum here,” she said. “Over 100,000 are housed and supported at taxpayers’ expense, putting huge pressure on local communities.”

The Home Office says that Denmark’s policies have reduced asylum claims there to a 40-year low and resulted in the removal of 95 per cent of rejected applicants. Earlier this year, a U.K. delegation of senior Home Office officials visited the capital of Copenhagen to study Denmark’s approach to asylum, Reuters reported.

However, its reforms have drawn significant criticism, with rights groups saying the measures foster a hostile climate for migrants, undermine protection and leave asylum seekers in prolonged uncertainty.

Britain’s Refugee Council criticized the government’s new policy announcement.

“People who have been persecuted, tortured or seen family members killed in brutal wars are not ‘asylum shopping’… refugees don’t compare asylum systems before running for their lives,” the group wrote on X.

“We know why people come to the U.K.: because they already have family here, they speak some English, or they have long-standing ties that help them rebuild their lives in safety,” the group added.