Foreign nationals convicted of sexual offences will be barred from claiming asylum in the UK, as part of new Home Office reforms that will also speed up appeals, deploy AI in asylum processing, shut hotels faster, and crack down on unqualified immigration advisers.
The Home Office confirmed today that any foreign national placed on the sex offenders register will automatically lose eligibility for refugee protections under a new amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Appeals by asylum seekers receiving accommodation support and by foreign offenders must also now be decided within 24 weeks.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are restoring order to a broken asylum system that has been mired in delay and dysfunction for far too long, and we are strengthening our system to ensure that the rules are respected and enforced.”
“Sex offenders who pose a risk to the community should not be allowed to benefit from refugee protections in the UK. We are strengthening the law to ensure these appalling crimes are taken seriously.”
As part of the reforms, new technology will be rolled out across the asylum system with AI supporting caseworkers by summarising interviews and speeding up country research, saving up to an hour per case. The changes aim to clear the asylum backlog, end the use of hotels, and save taxpayer money.
Safeguarding Minister Jess Philips added: “It is right we ensure that convicted, registered sex offenders are not entitled to refugee status, as part of our work to see these awful crimes treated with the seriousness they deserve and perpetrators held to account.”
The crackdown will also give the Immigration Advice Authority new powers to fine unregistered immigration advisers up to £15,000. Separately, the government will force gig economy employers to conduct right-to-work checks on contractors for the first time.
The Home Office said removals of people with no right to remain have surpassed 24,000 in the nine months since the election, with a 16 per cent increase in the removal of foreign criminals. Asylum decision-making rates rose by 52 per cent in the last quarter of 2024.
The Conservative Party has criticised the Labour government’s new asylum measures, arguing they do not go far enough.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “This is too little, too late from a Labour Government that has scrapped our deterrent and overseen the worst year ever for small boat crossings – with a record 10,000 people crossing this year already.”
He also pointed out what he described as the failure to swiftly remove foreign criminals, noting that they “pose a danger to British citizens and must be removed, but so often this is frustrated by spurious legal claims based on human rights claims, not asylum claims.”
The reforms are part of the government’s Plan for Change to strengthen borders, dismantle people-smuggling operations, and restore order to the UK asylum system.
Featured image via Andy Taylor/Home Office
