Thousands of UK asylum seekers wait 'in limbo' for years

LONDON, 14 Nov. (DPA/EP) -

Tens of thousands of migrants are waiting more than a year for a decision on their asylum application, with hundreds waiting more than five years, according to figures from British authorities.

The number of people awaiting an initial decision on their UK asylum claim has almost quadrupled in the last five years, from 29,522 in December 2017 to 122,206 in June 2022, according to UK Home Office data obtained by the Refugee Council under freedom of information laws.

The figure was 64,891 in December 2020, which means that it almost doubled in 18 months.

A third of the applicants -- 40,913 -- have been waiting between one and three years, while 725 people, including 155 children, have been "living in limbo waiting for a decision" for more than five years, it has indicated. the organization.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under increasing pressure to fix the UK's asylum system, which she and her predecessor, Priti Patel, described as "broken".

The government is spending 6.8 million pounds (7.7 million euros) a day to house migrants in hotels. Home Office figures released in August showed the cost of the UK's asylum system has exceeded £2bn a year for the first time, with the highest number of applications for two decades and record delays for people seeking asylum. await a decision.

At that time, the Ministry of the Interior announced the creation of an action group to study how to speed up the processing of asylum applications in an attempt to increase the number of decisions made on cases on a weekly basis.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the charity, said: "Immediate action must be taken to address the huge backlog of men, women and children stuck in limbo as they wait years for a decision on their asylum claim, costing millions of pounds. a day by lodging them in often poor quality hotels", collects dpa.

"These people came to the UK seeking safety but are being condemned to years of worry and uncertainty, at a serious cost to their mental health, rather than being able to put down roots in their new community and rebuild their lives," he said. Solomon added.

The Refugee Council called on ministers to introduce a series of measures to tackle the problem, including the creation of a task force dedicated to eliminating the backlog and setting a deadline for its removal.

Solomon has assured that there are "clear measures that this Government could take immediately to address this situation. We are willing to work constructively to help you do so", adding that the "untold human misery that this situation causes is simply unsustainable", in addition to assuming an enormous cost for the public treasury.

Likewise, he has warned that, if no action is taken, next year "another atrocious episode is likely" such as the overcrowding in the Manston immigration processing center in Kent.

"We urgently need to move to a fair, orderly and compassionate asylum system that always sees the face behind the case and deals with applications in a timely and efficient manner," he concluded.