Over 24,000 UK asylum seekers could be sent to Rwanda despite court ruling

London: More than 24,000 asylum seekers from about one-third of the world’s countries could face removal to Rwanda by the UK Home Office in the future, even though the scheme was found to be unlawful in the court of appeal on Thursday.

Home Office data obtained under a freedom of information request shows that, between January 2021 and March 2023, 24,083 asylum seekers were issued with letters warning them that they were being considered for forcible removal.

A notice of intent letter is issued after the Home Office has declared an asylum claim inadmissible. This means the case cannot be determined in the UK because the asylum seeker previously passed through a safe country before reaching Britain.

The notice of intent is to send the person to a safe third country instead to have their claim determined there. The only country the UK has an agreement with to do this is Rwanda, but because of the continuing legal proceedings these cases have become part of the Home Office’s record backlog.

According to Home Office data, the top nationality is Albanians with 3,859 notices of intent issued. Also in the top 10 are Iran with 2,715, Eritrea with 2,558 and Afghanistan with 2,555.

Although the court of appeal found the arrangement to be unlawful, the UK and Rwandan governments say they are both committed to making it happen. The government said on Thursday it was planning to seek permission to appeal to the supreme court following the court of appeal’s decision.

Toufique Hossain, of Duncan Lewis solicitors, who represented seven of the asylum seekers threatened with forcible removal to Rwanda in the legal challenge that succeeded in the court of appeal on Thursday, said: “Torture survivors from places like Iran, Eritrea, Syria and Sudan are languishing in the asylum system with no real prospect of being removed to Rwanda. The dehumanising impact of living in limbo like this is cruel. The Home Office should urgently review its policy and process these claims immediately.”

Steve Smith MBE, the CEO of the refugee charity Care4Calais, said: “Over two-thirds of the refugees we work with who have received Rwanda notices have reported indicators of modern slavery and torture. It is shameful that, having already created a record backlog of asylum claims by not processing them efficiently, the government has paused tens of thousands more. This only serves to inflict more trauma on the survivors of modern slavery and torture.”

The Home Office declined to comment on the data but it is understood that while all of those issued with notices of intent could not be moved to Rwanda, at the same time the UK government’s hope is to fly as many people as possible there after the legal case has been resolved, if it is resolved in the government’s favour.