December 2024

On 8th December 2024, people around the world heard the news of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. At the time of writing, it is unclear what the new regime will look like and what is going to happen in Syria. But countries in Europe have been quick to announce that they are pausing asylum decisions for people seeking safety from Syria. In the UK, the Home Office has announced that they have suspended asylum processing for the 6,500 Syrian people in the asylum system.

This information is about what the changes in Syria mean for Syrian people seeking asylum in the UK.

We know that this may be a confusing and worrying time, and that there are many reasons why people may not feel safe to return to Syria.

For people who are claiming asylum

People from Syria will not receive a decision on their asylum claim until the government announces that decisions will resume. Immigration Minister Angela Eagle has said that claims are suspended “until we can see what emerges from the current situation”.
For some people this means asylum interviews, or Preliminary Information Meetings (PIMs) for children, that had already been booked are now being cancelled.

The change in regime in Syria does not mean that these asylum claims do not have merit or will not be granted. People from Syria will still have very good reasons to claim asylum based on their individual facts. We want to reassure people that they will still have the chance to put forward these reasons for claiming asylum and that the Home Office will have to consider them, whenever the pause is lifted.

What GMIAU thinks:

Some people have been waiting a very long time for their asylum decision already, because of the asylum backlog that built up during the last government and the suspension of asylum decisions because of the Illegal Migration Act. During this time, people have not been allowed to work and usually have had very little control over where they live, often housed in sub-standard accommodation. People have told us waiting for an asylum decision causes a great deal of anxiety and distress due to uncertainty about the future. For this reason, we are calling for the Home Office to resume decision-making on all Syrian asylum claims as soon as is practically possible. They should also continue work processing claims while decision making is paused, resuming asylum interviews immediately, so that individual circumstances can be heard.

People who were granted refugee status and now have settled status/indefinite leave to remain or British citizenship

Syrian people who have permanent status or British citizenship will not be affected.

People who currently have a 5-year grant of refugee status

People with refugee status may be feeling uncertain and worried, but at the time of writing nothing has changed for people in this situation and anyone from Syria with refugee status still has the right to remain in the UK. The UK government has not said anything new about changes for people with refugee status from Syria, either now or at the end of a period of their five years’ refugee leave.

What GMIAU thinks:

While it is possible to revoke refugee status, this would not leave people without legal rights, and in our legal experience is very unlikely to happen. We will stand strongly against any attempts to remove status from people. When their 5 years of leave ends, people with refugee status will still have the right and opportunity to put forward the arguments for why it is not safe for them to return to Syria, and the Home Office must consider them.

For more, please see this UNHCR briefing and Right to Remain’s update.