London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 11, 2025

Patel hints Afghans crossing Channel will be treated same as other migrants

Patel hints Afghans crossing Channel will be treated same as other migrants

Comments come as officials confirm visa requirements will be waived for some Afghan citizens ‘on compelling and compassionate grounds’

Afghans seeking refuge in the UK who arrive on small boats from across the Channel will be treated the same as any other migrants who enter the country by the same means, the home secretary has suggested.

Priti Patel appeared to confirm there would be no exception made for those fleeing the Taliban who used “irregular” routes to come to the UK, saying people allowed to resettle in Britain would have to come through one of two schemes.

The first is the new programme launched overnight, which the government says will allow 20,000 Afghan refugees to come to the UK over the next five years and “start a new life in safety”. It will run separately to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap), launched in April, which offers relocation for those who helped British operations in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, officials confirmed that the Home Office would waive visa requirements for some Afghan citizens to allow them to come to the UK “on compelling and compassionate grounds”.

Applying for a visa to come to the UK can be a long, difficult and expensive process for Afghan nationals, with Covid and the closure of visa processing centres in the region because of the deteriorating security situation causing difficulties even before the Taliban took control of the country.

Patel said the aim of the new resettlement system was not to “criminalise” Afghan refugees. But when asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether they would be treated any differently from other migrants arriving in the UK on small boats, she said: “They will claim asylum in the way in which people who enter our system are currently claiming asylum.”

She continued: “We would obviously tell people not to come through illegal means. Illegal means also means that they’re travelling through many safe countries. Irregular migration doesn’t just manifest in the UK, people are travelling through European countries – they can claim asylum in European countries.”

‘Where is global Britain on streets of Kabul?’: Theresa May blasts UK failure in Afghanistan


The UK’s chief of the defence staff, Gen Sir Nick Carter, said the Taliban were cooperating with British troops around Kabul airport and were not behaving in “a medieval way”. “They are keeping the streets of Kabul very safe and indeed very calm. They are helping us at the airport,” he told Sky news.

He said he did not think the Taliban “want to become international pariahs again”, adding: “I do think that they have changed.”

Patel said France “needs to do more” to ensure people claim asylum there rather than continuing to the UK and prolonging their “dangerous journeys”.

While the government’s new resettlement programme has been roundly welcomed, charities have said it will come too late to help those in urgent danger.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, refugee and migrant rights director at Amnesty International UK, said the programme was “unforgivably slow” and not “focused on the most immediate emergency for people at risk in the country”. He asked: “And what, meanwhile, about Afghans who make their own way to the UK to seek asylum or who are already here? Will they still be vilified and criminalised by the government’s draconian new asylum measures?”

Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said Afghans arriving in the UK through routes other than the resettlement programmes would “be met with punishment, not protection” under the nationality and borders bill – which he called the “anti-refugee bill” – making its way through parliament.

Patel also defended the number of people the government has said would be helped over five years, after criticism from people including former child refugee and Labour peer Alf Dubs.

Ahead of a five-hour debate in parliament, which has been recalled from summer recess and interrupted the holidays of the prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, she said: “We cannot accommodate 20,000 people all in one go.”

Patel could not clarify whether it would be weeks or months before the first people to be resettled under the new programme arrived in the UK. She said those accepted under the scheme would get housing, welfare support and job and employment help, allowing them to start a new life in the UK permanently.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Requests for a visa waiver are passed from the [Foreign Office] to Border Force to rapidly assess, and all cases are considered on their individual merits. This approach is in line with standard procedures for visa waivers in a crisis scenario, which can be issued to allow individuals into the country on compelling and compassionate grounds.”

The number for British nationals to call for assistance is 0044 2070 085 000.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
The British legal mafia hit back: Banksy mural of judge beating protester is scrubbed from London court
Surpassing Musk: Larry Ellison becomes the richest man in the world
Embarrassment for Starmer: He fired the ambassador photographed on Epstein’s 'pedophile island'
Manhunt after 'skilled sniper' shot Charlie Kirk. Footage: Suspect running on rooftop during panic
Effective Protest Results: Nepal’s Prime Minister Resigns as Youth-Led Unrest Shakes the Nation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
King Charles and Prince Harry Share First In-Person Moment in 19 Months
Starmer Establishes Economic ‘Budget Board’ to Centralise Policy and Rebuild Business Trust
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Brazilian police say ex-President Bolsonaro had planned to flee to Argentina seeking asylum
Trinidad Leader Applauds U.S. Naval Strike and Advocates Forceful Action Against Traffickers
Kim Jong Un Oversees Final Test of New High-Thrust Solid-Fuel Rocket Engine
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump to pause billions in foreign aid
Charlie Sheen says his father, Martin Sheen, turned him in to the police: 'The greatest betrayal possible'
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
Pig Heads Left Outside Multiple Paris Mosques in Outrage-Inducing Acts
Nvidia’s ‘Wow’ Factor Is Fading. The AI chip giant used to beat Wall Street expectations for earnings by a substantial margin. That trajectory is coming down to earth.
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
On the Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s Death: Prince Harry Returns to Britain
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Murdoch Family Finalises $3.3 Billion Succession Pact, Ensuring Eldest Son’s Leadership
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Court Staff Cover Up Banksy Image of Judge Beating a Protester
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
Elon Musk Poised to Become First Trillionaire Under Ambitious Tesla Pay Plan
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
Burning the Minister’s House Helped Protesters to Win Justice: Prabowo Fires Finance Minister in Wake of Indonesia Protests
Brazil Braces for Fallout from Bolsonaro Trial by corrupted judge
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
Nearly 40 Years Later: Nike Changes the Legendary Slogan Just Do It
Generations Born After 1939 Unlikely to Reach Age One Hundred, New Study Finds
End to a four-year manhunt in New Zealand: the father who abducted his children to the forests was killed, the three siblings were found
Germany Suspends Debt Rules, Funnels €500 Billion Toward Military and Proxy War Strategy
EU Prepares for War
BMW Eyes Growth in China with New All‑Electric Neue Klasse Lineup
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
×