Key Facts

• The Home Office is introducing new "capped safe and legal" routes for asylum seekers to arrive in the UK, allowing organizations like universities, community groups, and businesses to sponsor refugees.
• The new asylum route is based on Canada's asylum system and will allow a wider number of organizations to support those who arrive, including "trusted universities".
• Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stated that the new system would protect "genuine refugees" while "closing loopholes that have been too often abused", and emphasized that the system only survives if the public trusts that it is fair, controlled, and not open to abuse.
• The government will also press ahead with changes to how human rights and modern slavery laws are applied to asylum applications, which will include removing the right to protection for foreign nationals who have received a custodial sentence or where there is evidence of forged documents.
• Applications for the university route will open later this year, with the first arrivals due to take place in 2027, and a refugee work route is expected to open next year, allowing employers to sponsor refugees.