More than half of asylum seekers rejected under tightened laws will remain in UK

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, introduced a bill to parliament that proposes to charge asylum seekers £10,000 before they are given settled status. Photograph: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, introduced a bill to parliament that proposes to charge asylum seekers £10,000 before they are given settled status. Photograph: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock More than half of asylum seekers rejected under tightened laws will remain in UK Home Office assessment shows new limits on human rights route based on family ties could result in another 11,700 claims turned down More than half of the people whose asylum and visa claims will be rejected under tightened human rights laws will continue to live in the UK, according to the Home Office’s own assessment. Documents released on Tuesday show that plans to set new limits on article 8 of the European convention on human rights are expected to result in another 11,700 people having their claims rejected. But an impact assessment shows that 55% of those refused under article 8 reforms are expected to remain in the UK. The documents were released after Shabana Mahmood introduced the immigration and asylum bill to parliament. It proposes to charge asylum seekers £10,000 before they are given settled status, a new appeals system without judges, and new restrictions on trafficking claims. Imran Hussain, the director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said the bill could cause “chaos in the Home Office and for the next prime minister for years to come”. He added: “It would create a whole new architecture of bureaucracy for the Home Office by building a new appeals system and imposing an unfair extra tax on refugees, while ignoring the poor quality of initial decisions that is actually driving significant delays and costs. “Every day in our frontline services, we see men, women and children from countries like Afghanistan and Sudan, who have escaped torture, devastating war and persecution from brutal regimes. “Like generations of refugees before them, all they want is to settle and stand on their own two feet, finding work in our NHS, our care homes and on our high streets. “If the government is serious about building a fair and functioning asylum system, it must start by breaking the cycle of quick fixes and bills that create long term chaos.” According to the bill’s impact assessment, the Home Office will see “an estimated 11,700 additional refusals due to the impact of the article 8”. A Home Office internal analysis said “the proportion of refused applicants that remain in the UK after being denied article 8” was 55%. An analysis by the department has found that 34,000 asylum seekers were granted the right to stay in the UK last year on the basis of article 8. It estimated that the lifetime cost of each migrant who invoked ECHR rights was £141,000 after tax. The legislation will allow article 8 claims relating only to