UK taxpayers face £5million a month bill to house Afghan migrants refused asylum Under This Shocking Conditions

British taxpayers are now spending around £5 million every month to support Afghan nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected. The government, led by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, made changes to its asylum policy last August. According to the updated rules, not all Afghans are seen as being in danger under Taliban rule, and applicants must provide strong evidence of personal risk—general fear is no longer enough.

Because of this tougher policy, many more Afghan asylum applications have been denied. In 2022, there were only 70 such cases, but last year that number jumped to over 2,600. However, even after being refused, most of these people are allowed to appeal, and the government can’t actually send them back to Afghanistan because it doesn’t have an agreement with the Taliban government.

The Telegraph estimated that if most of these people stay in the UK for a year while waiting for their appeal results, the cost to taxpayers could reach £56 million a year. And that figure might be even higher since appeals often take several years due to a backlog in the immigration court system. During that time, the government still has to provide housing and other basic needs.

Even if their appeals are unsuccessful, they are not likely to be deported anytime soon because the UK doesn’t recognize the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan. This situation has left the government stuck—paying to house people it has rejected, without a way to send them home.

Experts have criticized the situation. Marley Morris, from a think tank, said the government needs to rethink how it handles Afghan asylum rejections if it wants to reduce the use of hotels. Jamie Bell, a lawyer, said the current approach is chaotic and pointless, as many people will win their appeals anyway. He argued it’s unfair and inefficient to overload the system this way.

In response, the Home Office said the cost estimates were based on old data and may not be accurate. They also stated that the government is committed to removing people who have no legal right to stay. Since taking office, they said they’ve removed 24,000 people and made faster decisions on asylum cases—by about 52%.

To speed things up, they plan to give the courts a 24-week deadline to decide on appeals for people staying in government-provided accommodation or those who are foreign criminals.