What Do Asylum Seekers Really Get? | Myth Busting 5 Common Misconceptions About Asylum Seekers in the UK
The Internet is a vast space where people can share their picture, thoughts and feelings on just about anything. Whilst this comes with many benefits, it also means that more people have access to false information which may lead to complications when forming opinions on certain topics. So, we wanted to bust some common myths that we see in our own comment sections so that you can be as informed as possible!
1.The UK should look after their own people first. We have too many of our own homeless people to look after others.
We completely agree that the UK should support those born here who live in poverty, and there are lots of great charities that exist to do this work. We do believe that the government could do much more to support these individuals, however those seeking asylum in the UK and our own poverty crisis are two separate problems! At Upbeat, we exist to support refugees and asylum seekers only.
In the aftermath of World War 1, many people fled their homelands due to the war in search of refuge, so the government formed a set of international agreements to provide travel documents for these people. The numbers of refugees drastically increased after the Second World War and in response, the international community created a set of guidelines, laws and conventions aimed at protecting the basic human rights and treatment of people forced to flee conflict and persecution. This is called the Refugee Convention.
The UK are still a part of the Refugee Convention, which means that we still have an obligation to provide safety for those who need our support, in the same way that the other 148 countries in the convention uphold these obligations. The Home Office makes the decisions on which asylum claims get accepted and which don’t. Someone can claim asylum for many reasons. The UK’s laws on asylum claim acceptance is very strict and not every claim will be accepted. Those that do are typically people facing a well-founded fear of persecution and their home country is deemed unsafe.
So, whilst we agree that the government cold do more to support British born people in poverty, this does not change the fact that we are a part of a convention that requires us to offer support to protect these people and that is why Upbeat Communities, as a charity, exists. The UK benefits from being apart of this convention as it allows us to be protected under the same laws if anything were to ever happen in the UK that would cause us to flee. Removing ourselves from the convention also would not stop migration as migration happens in various ways, not just through claiming asylum.
2. Refugees can go to other countries closer to them. The UK isn’t the first safe country.
The UK is home to just 1% of people seeking safety in the world. In fact, the vast majority, that being 70% of those displaced, seek refuge in neighbouring countries or safer parts of their home country. However, asylum seekers have no legal obligation to stay in the first safe country that they find.
Turkey continues to be the world’s largest refugee-hosting country, home to 3.6 million refugees, most of which are from neighbouring countries such as Syria (3.2 million).
Other European countries such as France and Germany also have a higher rate of forcibly displaced people seeking refuge – France received 13% of all applications and Germany received 25% to our 6.4% of applications (European Commissions). Due to signing the Refugee Convention, all 148 countries must play their part. It wouldn’t be fair for Germany, France or any other country to accept all displaced people when the countries involved in the refugee convention all signed the same obligations. This also means that if anything were to happen to the UK that forced our own families out of our country for safety, other countries under the convention would be obligated to offer us protection and support.
As of 2023, there were 67,337 applications in the UK which is 17% less than 2022. And per statistics from 2022, there are 231,597 total refugees in the UK. This is 0.54% of the UK’s population. Asylum applications in the UK peaked in 2002 at over 84,000 and haven’t been that high since.
Not only that, but people may also flee directly to the UK for many other reasons such as family ties, the fact that they might already speak the English language therefore integration would be a lot easier, and professional connections, such as those who served with the British Army in Afghanistan.
3. But the UK is too small! We don’t have enough money or space.
Whilst we would still like to acknowledge homelessness for British-born people and that this kind of poverty needs abolishing, we would also like to note that there are currently over 260,000 empty long-term residential properties that could contribute to providing better housing for both British-born homeless people and those who are seeking refuge in the UK from horrendous wars, violence and persecution. More so, only a little under 9% of the entirety of the UK has been built upon.
4. I don’t mind ‘real refugees’, but not the ‘illegal immigrants’ that come in small boats with no passport or documentation, or other countries criminals.
We would like to acknowledge the inverted commas with this statement reflecting our disagreement with the choice of problematic terminology; however, this is often an argument used by those who do not support refugees. No one is illegal.
For someone escaping torture, persecution, violence, war and anything else that may force them out of their home, they must set foot on English soil to claim asylum. This cannot be done overseas. This means that no matter how they get to the UK, whether they are lucky enough to travel by plane, or have cross the horrible English Channel in a small boat or travel by foot, they must reach the UK somehow and then explain that they wish to claim asylum.
People who are fleeing countries that have high rates of persecution are often already under a lot of control. That means they may not have access to a passport or a visa to travel, therefore travelling by boat or people smugglers is sometimes the only option they have. For example, it is illegal to leave Eritrea without government permission, and their exit control laws are extremely strict, therefor some refugees from Eritrea may not have access to documents. The only way to combat ‘small boat’ methods of transportation of arriving to the UK is to provide safe travel routes for refugees or to process asylum claims offshore.
For some people seeking asylum, they can be travelling for months, being wary of potentially being caught, deported to their home country and then criminalised for attempting to leave. As a result of these journeys, it is very easy for documents to be lost along the way or for people smugglers to take documentation and not return it.
In 2023, 33% of all initial decisions were refused. That meant that 66% of asylum seekers in the UK were granted legal protection from the UK and were not ‘illegal’.
Those whose applications are refused can appeal against it. If an asylum seeker’s application is refused, they will receive a letter from the Home Office asking them to leave the UK and they will stop receiving support. This includes their Section 4, which is a weekly allowance.
As for criminal activity, on record there are over 76,000+ held prisoners in the UK as of 2024. Only 11% of these prisoners are people of other nationality, with the highest being 1,273 people from Albania. However, it is very important to remember that being of a certain race, ethnic group or nationality does not make you a criminal.
5.They only come to England to receive benefits and handouts. Where do they even get the money from to cross the channel?
Unfortunately, a lot of refugees must use all their work savings from their home country so that one family member even has the chance of a better life outside of conflict and persecution. It often results in a lot of refugees using dangerous tactics, such as people smugglers.
Economic migrants and refugees/asylum seekers are not the same people. Whilst financial stability may be something that a refugee hopes for when seeking asylum in another country, it is not the purpose they flee. Most economic migrants make the choice to move to a new country with the hope that employment and pay will be better, they do not come to the UK and claim asylum. Refugees do not have a choice in leaving their country and often wouldn’t if they weren’t facing the conditions that caused them to leave.
At Upbeat, we only support refugees and asylum seekers so we cannot comment too much on those who migrate for economic reasons. However, we can say that those seeking asylum do not receive an extreme number of benefits. The government has a statutory duty to provide temporary housing for those claiming asylum but they do not receive free housing forever. These housing situations are also not ‘luxury 5 star’ hotels. Asylum seekers have an allowance of under £50 a week which is to cover all their essentials such as food, toiletries, water and medication. Asylum seekers do not receive luxuries such as cars and mobile phones from the government, although some may have access to donated phones by charities so that they can stay in contact with their solicitor about their case.
Those seeking asylum are also not allowed to work until they have been granted refugee status, which commonly takes over 6 months to be decided.
Upbeat helps refugees and asylum seekers whatever the point of their journey, find out how you can support refugees too by signing up to our mailing list.
Disclaimer: these facts and figures were true at the time of writing (20th February 2025)