The United Kingdom announced that it will ban entry visas for visitors from countries that the Home Secretary believes refuse to cooperate in returning rejected or irregular asylum seekers. The British newspaper "The Guardian" published the new bill that grants the Home Secretary Priti Patel and future Home Ministers the authority to suspend or delay processing applications from asylum seekers from "uncooperative" countries.
The proposed legislation states that these countries are those "which do not cooperate with the UK government regarding the removal of their citizens from the UK, including those who require permission to enter or remain in the UK, or those present on its territory without such permission."
There is a clause in the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill that allows the Home Secretary to impose "additional financial requirements" for visa applications, which means increasing fees if countries do not cooperate. The new UK bill is similar to American legislation that allows officials to restrict visas from countries that refuse to take back unauthorized migrants, according to the newspaper. It cited countries such as Iraq, Iran, Eritrea, and Sudan as examples of uncooperative nations.
The British Home Secretary described the new proposed amendments as part of a series of changes that will affect immigration law, calling it the "biggest reform of the asylum system in the UK in decades." According to the new bill, asylum seekers who are considered to have arrived in the UK illegally will no longer enjoy the same rights as those who enter the country through legal means. If their applications are accepted, they will be granted temporary refugee status and may face deportation, and they might also be unable to reunite with their families.
The UK intends to increase prison sentences for migrants attempting to enter the country illegally from six months to four years, following a record number of crossings in the English Channel. This new measure, announced by the Home Office last week, is part of the asylum reform bill that was presented to the British Parliament on Tuesday.
The legislation also aims to increase the penalty for human traffickers to life imprisonment instead of the current 14 years. The project, described by the Home Secretary as "fair but firm," seeks to limit illegal immigration and treat asylum seekers differently based on the legality of their arrival in the country. This bill comes as the number of migrants crossing the English Channel on small boats has reached a record high, with about 6,000 people recorded in the first six months of 2021.
