News story

No amnesty for asylum seekers

Immigration minister says that although system government inherited was 'chaotic,' there will be no amnesty for asylum seekers in the UK.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

His comments follow criticisms by the which observes that such a large proportion of asylum seekers have had their applications approved that it amounts to 鈥榓n amnesty鈥�.

Chaotic system

Immigration minister Damian Green said: 鈥榃e have known for some time that the asylum system we inherited was chaotic.

鈥楽ome of these cases date back more than a decade and the was always clear that because of the length of time many of these individuals have been in the country there would be no alternative to granting them leave to remain. 皇冠体育appre is no amnesty.鈥�

Series of reports

皇冠体育app Home Affairs Committee report is the second in a series by the group of MPs and looks at a range of work by the UK Border Agency.

Responding to its broader conclusions, the minister said that the immigration system is being 鈥榦verhauled鈥�.

鈥榃e are already radically reforming the points-based system and other routes of entry that have been subject to widespread abuse and will re-introduce exit checks by 2015.

鈥榃e are making greater use of intelligence to remove people with no right to be here and are concluding individual cases faster.鈥�

Ask the minister

Damian Green recently responded directly to questions from the public about immigration reform聽submitted via Twitter and email.

Click play on the video below to watch his answers.

Youtube

Updates to this page

Published 2 June 2011