Almost as many Afghan nationals arrived in the UK having made the dangerous Channel crossing as through the Government's legal routes in the year to March, latest figures show
Almost as many Afghan nationals arrived in the UK having made the dangerous Channel crossing as through the Government's legal routes in the year to March, the latest figures show.
There were 5,662 Afghan nationals coming to the UK having crossed the Channel in that period, plus 350 of what the Home Office described as inadequately documented air arrivals, making a total of 6,012 people.
Meanwhile, 6,042 Afghans were resettled in the same period under the schemes created by the department following the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban in 2021.
A total of 1,854 of those came under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) - which is split into three pathways.
The number resettled under pathway one - for 'vulnerable and at-risk' people who arrived in the UK during the evacuation programme in 2021 and those who were eligible but not able to board a flight at that time - was down 91% year-on-year from 434 in the year ending March 2023, to 40 in the year ending March 2024.
The Government has previously pledged to establish a route for families who ended up being split apart when some were evacuated initially and loved ones left behind.
There were 5,662 Afghan nationals coming to the UK having crossed the Channel in that period, plus 350 of what the Home Office described as inadequately documented air arrivals (File image)
Afghans struggle to reach the foreign forces to show their credentials to flee the country outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul
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Then-immigration minister Robert Jenrick said in October that a route related to pathway one would allow eligible individuals to refer one spouse or partner and dependent child for resettlement, and that the Government was aiming for referrals to that route in the first half of 2024 'if not sooner'.
Just yesterday, the Home Office bragged that it had achieved the 'biggest-ever cut' in legal migration.
Visa applications across key routes fell by a quarter in the first four months of 2024, which the Government claimed was owing to its tightening of visa and migrant employment laws.
Yet critics pointed out that record numbers were making illegal crossings and suggested the Government was driving migrants to break the law by curbing legal routes.
Evacuees wait to board a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul
An inflatable dinghy carrying migrants passes a French navy vessel as it heads towards England in the English Channel
The ACRS, which began in January 2022, prioritised people who had assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan as well as vulnerable people, including women and girls at risk, and members of minority groups at risk.
Those arriving under pathway two - for vulnerable refugees referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) - rose to 623 in the year ending March 2024, from 40 the previous year.
Numbers settled under pathway three - for women and girls at risk and those who supported the UK and international community effort in Afghanistan - rose to 1,191 in the year ending March 2024, from 16 the previous year.
The Arap scheme, which launched in April 2021, is for Afghan citizens who worked for or with the UK Government in Afghanistan.
Arrivals under this scheme were up by a quarter to 4,188 in the year to March 2024.