Category Archives: Home Office

Council of Europe calls on UK not to process asylum claims in Rwanda

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People may be exposed to abuses such as torture and degrading treatment in Rwanda, says watchdog

Europe’s leading anti-torture watchdog has called on the government to process asylum claims in the UK rather than sending people to Rwanda because of the risk they may be exposed to human rights abuses there.

In a report published on Thursday, the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment raises a litany of concerns after an 11-day visit to the UK in March and April last year.

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Masked protesters could soon face arrest, says Home Office

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Rights groups say proposed police powers for England and Wales are pandering to ‘culture war nonsense’

Protesters who wear masks could face arrest, up to a month in jail and a £1,000 fine under proposed measures that human rights campaigners claim are pandering to “culture war nonsense”.

Police in England and Wales will be given the power to arrest people if they are wearing face coverings at specific demonstrations, the Home Office has said.

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Asylum seekers evacuated from hotel near Heathrow after power failure

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More than 500 people forced to leave site, with some unsure of where to spend the night

There were chaotic scenes on Sunday night as the Home Office carried out a mass evacuation of one of the largest hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers after a failure of the power and water supply.

The hotel near Heathrow airport accommodates more than 500 asylum seekers – a mix of single adults, families, children and babies. The Guardian was sent video footage of adults and children walking around the darkened reception area asking what was happening.

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Dublin not expecting EU objections to new trade rules for Northern Ireland – UK politics live

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Irish foreign minister says he does ‘not anticipate any particular difficulties in respect of the EU side’

Back at the home affairs committee James Daly (Con) asks why so few police investigations end up in people being charged.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, says the Crown Prosecution Service is independent. He wants to make sure investigations are as professional as possible.

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More than 30,000 UK asylum seekers on bail under Rwanda deportation threat

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Home Office reveals 33,085 will not have claims examined while government tries to remove them

More than 30,000 asylum seekers are on bail and under the threat of deportation from the UK to Rwanda, the Home Office has disclosed, as James Cleverly insisted that the total backlog of 94,000 cases should instead be referred to as a queue.

A senior official has admitted for the first time that 33,085 people who arrived in the UK by irregular means such as small boats will not have their asylum claims examined while the government attempts to remove them from the UK.

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British police and security services to help protect Paris Olympics

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France and UK also agree to deploy more drones and sea barriers to stop small boats crossing Channel

UK security experts will help France to protect the Paris Olympics in a sign of closer cooperation, the Home Office has said.

Both governments also plan to deploy more drones and sea barriers to prevent small boats carrying asylum seekers from crossing the Channel.

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Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

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Exclusive: Test case likely against UK’s seasonal worker scheme as charity alleges breach of right to be protected from labour exploitation

When Ismael found himself sleeping rough at York station in the late October cold he struggled to understand how an opportunity to pick berries 7,000 miles from his home had so quickly ended there.

He had left Indonesia less than four months earlier, in July 2022. He was 18 and ready for six months of hard work on a British farm to save for a science degree. “I thought the UK was the best place to work because I could save up a little money and help my parents,” he said.

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Home Office U-turns on policy to restrict help for trafficking victims

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Rights groups hail change to Braverman policy that denied support to people with criminal convictions

The Home Office has performed a U-turn on a policy to deprive some modern slavery victims of protection from traffickers.

Human rights campaigners and lawyers representing trafficking victims have welcomed the government’s change of heart, which they say reinstates vital protections to vulnerable people.

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Border Force hires private vessels for Channel patrols after new fleet delayed

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Contracts, which will cost £36m a year, tendered following news that existing boats will be replaced four years later than planned

The Home Office has had to procure private boats at the cost of £36m a year to help Border Force patrol the Channel for small boats, owing to a delay in plans to replace the current fleet.

Replacing the fleet of five cutters and six coastal patrol vessels, some of which are 20 years old, will now not begin until March 2026, four years later than planned.

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Home Office hires hangar for staff to practise Rwanda deportations

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Officials will be taught how to carry out deportations, including how to handle people who physically resist

The Home Office has hired an aircraft hangar and aeroplane body to train security staff on how to deport people, as the UK government increases the number of people it forcibly removes each year.

Officials confirmed on Friday the department had increased its capacity to train officials to carry out deportations, including how to handle people who physically resist. Details of the expansion of the programme were first reported by the Times.

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Home Office U-turns on rights of EU citizens who were in UK pre-Brexit

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‘Lack of awareness’ of EU settled status scheme restored as reasonable grounds for late applications by permanent residence card holders

The Home Office has made a significant U-turn on the rights of EU citizens who were in the UK before Brexit.

It is going to reverse a rule it made in August that barred those who mistakenly applied for permanent residency cards after the referendum to make a late application for EU settled status if they were unaware of the specially created immigration scheme.

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‘Given my life back’: Home Office restores rights to French woman after Brexit mix-up

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Paula Serre lost her job after being stripped of the right to live and work in the UK after confusion over immigration process

A French woman who lost her job in the UK after a mix-up over the Brexit immigration process has had her residency and work rights restored by the Home Office after publicising her story.

Paula Serre had been waiting for two years for a final decision on her application when her life was turned upside down.

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Why Home Office visa plans will be ‘nail in the coffin’ for UK hospitality

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Rise in salary requirements will further fuel staff shortages in industry that relies on skilled migrant workers

• Business live – latest updates

What do you call an Italian restaurant that doesn’t serve pizza?

During the 2022 Edinburgh fringe, Gusto’s restaurant in the city sounded like the punchline to one of the comedy festival’s jokes.

There’s a threshold at which it becomes impossible to make money, so you have to put prices up, which drives inflation, which flies in the face of what the government say they’re trying to do,” says Snell.

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Man found dead on Bibby Stockholm lay undiscovered for 12 hours, roommate says

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Exclusive: Leonard Farruku’s former roommate was offered no support after being relocated to another room without belongings

The man who was found dead on the Bibby Stockholm barge after it was suspected he had killed himself lay undiscovered for up to 12 hours, his former roommate has claimed.

Speaking publicly for the first time since Leonard Farruku, 27, an asylum seeker from Albania, was found dead in a shower room on the barge last month, Yusuf Deen Kargbo, 20, urged the Home Office to stop using it to accommodate those seeking refugee status.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. Youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Spanish woman removed from UK after returning from Christmas holiday

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Woman was detained overnight and removed despite presenting Home Office documents showing her right to work and live in UK

A 34-year-old Spanish woman was forcibly removed from the UK after returning from a Christmas holiday near Málaga despite presenting Brexit paperwork to border officials showing she has a right to live and work in the country.

She was flown back to Spain after being detained overnight in Luton airport on 26 December and told she was “wasting her time” if she thought the Home Office documentation she had showing her right to live in the UK was valid.

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UK does not cooperate sufficiently over small boat crossings, says French body

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Independent French auditors say UK information on people crossing Channel is ‘very patchy’

The UK is not coordinating sufficiently with France to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats or providing enough detailed information, French state auditors have said.

The cour des comptes, an independent French body that examines the use of public funds, has published a report on the efficiency of French policy on illegal migration, in which it said France was “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with its neighbours, including the UK.

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Family of man found dead on Bibby Stockholm turn to crowdfunding to repatriate his body

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Leonard Farruku’s family ‘facing a double tragedy with not being able to have his body back home’ in Albania

The family of a man believed to have killed himself on the controversial Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, say they have had to turn to crowdfunding to bring him back to Albania for burial.

Leonard Farruku, 27, was found unresponsive onboard the vessel commissioned by the Home Office to accommodate up to 500 asylum seekers at Portland Port, Dorset, on 12 December.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Italian woman facing removal from UK despite ‘permanent residency’ card

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Silvana one of potentially thousands who were unaware of need to apply for post-Brexit EU settlement scheme

An Italian environmental technology investor who has lived in the UK for 14 years has discovered she could be removed despite getting a “permanent residency” card after Brexit.

She is one of potentially tens of thousands of EU citizens who were unaware the Home Office changed the rules in 2019 requiring them to apply for a different scheme, called EU settlement.

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James Cleverly apologises for ‘appalling’ date rape drug joke at No 10 event

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Home secretary said secret of a long marriage was sedating spouse on the same day a new policy on spiking was announced

James Cleverly has apologised for joking about spiking his wife’s drink with a date rape drug in comments made at a Downing Street reception.

The home secretary’s remarks came just hours after the Home Office announced plans to crack down on spiking, when someone puts drugs into another person’s drink or directly into their body without their knowledge or consent.

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Sunak adds to family visas confusion, saying rise to £38,700 comes in 2025

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PM announces different timetable for rise in earnings threshold people must cross to bring family to UK

Rishi Sunak has said the minimum salary levels needed for British nationals to bring foreign relatives to the UK will rise to £38,700 in 2025, adding yet more confusion to the rapidly changing rules.

The prime minister’s comments come just a day after an initially unnoticed parliamentary answer said the much-criticised plan to more than double the threshold from £18,600 a year to £38,700 was being shelved.

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