Asylum seekers given £3,000 to move to Rwanda eligible to re-enter UK after five years

The UK government last week sent its first failed asylum seeker to Rwanda - the east African country Rishi Sunak says he wants to deport people to as a deterrent to those trying to cross the English Channel.

Last month, the prime minister said the first plane of deportees will take off within 10-12 weeks after a controversial law deeming the country 'safe" was finally passed.

On 1 May, it emerged that the government had sent its first failed asylum seeker to the east African nation - not by being deported, but via a lesser-known means called the "assisted voluntary returns" scheme.

The scheme began in 1999 and has seen tens of thousands of people without the right to remain in the UK leave the country voluntarily. As part of this, individuals are given a cash - or similar - "support" payment via a single payment on a card before they leave the UK. People can only use the card in their home country.

Accepting the payment means individuals are only eligible to return to the UK and re-apply for asylum after five years. Those who leave voluntarily without taking a payment are eligible to return after two years.

The first of these deportations to Rwanda took place on 29 April, when a man of “African origin” who was denied asylum took a flight after reportedly receiving a payment of £3,000.

Theo Lester, a barrister at 36 Group, which specialises in immigration, told Yahoo News that the Assisted Voluntary Returns scheme has been available for 25 years, with the current version of the scheme having been in place since 2019.

Lester said: “At that time, up to £1,500 cash or ‘in-kind’ support was available for the ‘VRS Assisted Asylum’ returns scheme, or £2,000 for the VRS Assisted Family’ scheme, with a further £1,000 available under the ’VRS – additional assistance’ scheme.”

According to a government report from 2005, the average awarded was between £1,000 to £3,000. In 2023, the government carried out 19,253 voluntary deportations.

Voluntary vs forced: the differences

Voluntary scheme

• Asylum seekers are eligible for a "financial support" payment IF they agree to go voluntarily after asylum claim fails

• £3000 per person is available if they are going to a “developing country”

• They can return after 5 years if the money is awarded and/or their flight is paid for by the government

• Financial support for non developing country is rarely given, for example if the claimant need medical support, sleeping rough, underage, are a family etc

• If voluntarily deported with funding they will not be eligible to get it again after re-entry but flight etc can be paid for by uk gov

Forced deportation

• Usually after criminal convictions/deceptive asylum claims or overstaying visas

• No financial support

• Return only possible after 10 years, must apply to home office for re-entry

• The entry ban can be lifted if they were imprisoned for less than 4 years or if they successfully argue article 8 from the ECHR which is the right to private life and family or both - must be compelling reasons

• Government spends 150k per person

Yahoo News confirmed with a spokesperson at the Home Office that the rules previously tied to voluntary removals are the same for people voluntarily going to Rwanda.

Some examples of people eligible for the lump sum are those who are being removed to a developing country, have medical conditions that need support, are victims of modern slavery with proof, families, or people who are alone and under 18.

People would not be able to apply for financial support if they were to re-enter the UK.

Lester said people who were denied asylum could be from what the home office claims is a ‘safe third country’ and, therefore, were denied assisted returns.

Lester said: “Those who are not from a ‘developing’ country can also apply for up to £1,500 assistance if they have additional needs. It’s important to note that even individuals from EEA countries or other countries who would be excluded from the assisted returns scheme can still apply for a voluntary return.”

If someone is forcibly deported, they don’t have access to financial support and only have the possibility to return to the UK after 10 years.

Starmer will scrap Rwanda plan

Immigration has become a key policy battleground with Labour and the Conservatives in the run-up to the next general election.

Labour opposes the government's Rwanda plan, and on Friday, Keir Starmer set out his plans to tackle the small boats crisis, saying he would use new counter-terrorism powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs bringing migrants across the Channel.

Starmer insisted he would scrap the Rwanda scheme and use some of the money saved to fund a new “elite Border Security Command” led by a former police, military or intelligence chief.

Some 8,826 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, provisional Home Office figures show.

This is up 32% on this time last year, when 6,691 migrants were recorded, and a 14% rise compared with the same period in 2022 (7,750), according to PA news agency analysis of the data.

More than 2,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since the government’s Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act became law on 25 April.

Campaigners have warned that the current asylum system is in “meltdown” and is “only going to get worse” unless urgent changes are made.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said “whoever is in government” must focus on ensuring fairness in the system above anything else, adding: “The Illegal Migration Act must be scrapped immediately, along with plans to ship people off on a one-way ticket to Rwanda.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said there was “no one silver bullet” to tackling migrant crossings, adding: “But fundamentally we do need the Rwanda partnership up and running to change the status quo.”