I used to work for a research centre which specialised in migration with a focus on asylum and Refugees. There is probably no single political/social issue which is so badly misunderstood or tainted by myth/lies/misinformation.
As I am sure anyone on here knows there is no silver bullet but some practical solutions would be some of the following:
- Speed up the asylum process. The single biggest cost is housing people awaiting an asylum application decision, the hotel bill is around £3 billion per year. This is not due to massively increased asylum numbers but due to the Home Office ineptitude and failure to resource the asylum system adequately. As a side note, you can't process them in another country, our laws mean an asylum seekers has to be present in the country in which they are legally claiming asylum, plus who would agree to house and fund 200,000 people on our behalf?!
- Plan to turn 'political' migrants into economic migrants. Genuine asylum seekers are exactly that, genuine. They are fleeing war, persecution and general threat to life. The majority of UK asylum applicants are granted asylum, proving they are here on merited grounds. The problem becomes once they are granted asylum they are literally released into the community and are on their own. Spend money on training and preparing people for work whilst they are going through the lengthy asylum process (21 months on average). If they are able to go straight into work they are less likely to need public services/funding and can contribute economically from the off (which they want to do!).
- Allow asylum seekers that are able to work whilst they seek refugee status. As per point two, those that have good English and are able should be allowed to work, they can contribute significantly, and being able to work and stay economically and socially active reduces the need for other services such as healthcare.
- Create more safe routes. Contrary to the myth, we have a very low number of asylum seekers come to the UK, those that do nearly always have the intention of coming to the UK due to family/cultural/historic ties. We can create specific asylum routes and visas (look at the Ukraine system). That way you can create routes linked to the largest host countries (for the UK it is places like Iran, Sudan, Afghanistan and Eritrea). Do the ground work and allow people easier route and a quicker process. They are coming anyway, you may as well make it safe and as efficient (i.e cost effective as possible).
The biggest myths are that the UK is overrun by asylum seekers/refugees (we aren't), that they arrive by small boats (the majority don't) and that they take our jobs and drain our services (again, not so much). You cannot stop people claiming asylum, it is a legal right and deterrence does not work, costs more and just creates social division. Instead, you can have a fair and efficient system in place, educate the local population about the realities and the benefits, and help those granted refugee status to become economic and social contributors.
Long winded post, but hopefully worthwhile!
