UK Ends Automatic Asylum Settlement, Family Reunion

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced an end to the “golden ticket”: refugees granted asylum will no longer receive automatic indefinite settlement or unconditional family reunion rights, and he will set out the full package at the European Political Community summit in Copenhagen. Successful asylum claimants will instead have to “earn” indefinite leave to remain by contributing to UK society and meeting new requirements — including English-language, criminal-record and financial tests, work or volunteering — and routes to settlement will be lengthened (currently five years but potentially around ten for some); some fees, such as the ILR application, may no longer be waived. The government says the reforms aim to reduce pull factors and asylum shopping that drive dangerous Channel crossings while continuing to protect genuine refugees, and it will review legal interpretations such as the application of human-rights law to make deportation harder to evade. Starmer's package also includes international measures, including a partnership with Denmark and funding to tackle root causes in the Western Balkans, and is presented amid pressure from Reform and Nigel Farage to tighten migration policy. Charities and critics warn the rhetoric and measures risk demonising refugees and substantially weakening family reunification for people fleeing persecution.