Immigration Solicitors

Representatives for Liverpool Council are appearing in court today (26/01/15) over government plans to send approximately 1,000 failed asylum seekers to Liverpool every year so they can make a final appeal against deportation.

Local publisher the Liverpool Echo reports that on Friday the council met with the Home Office to try and stop the policy, which would see asylum seekers being sent to Liverpool from today.

The council failed to reach agreement with the Home Office over the asylum policy and is now seeking an injunction to block the scheme, under which the government has made Liverpool the last place in the UK where failed asylum seekers can launch a final appeal for leave to remain in the UK.

However, Liverpool Council was only advised of the new policy by email on Thursday morning last week, giving councillors no chance to respond.

Liverpool is already home to nearly 2,000 asylum seekers and the council says it had not been told how many more to expect – or how long they would be living there under the government’s dispersal scheme for final appeals against deportation from the UK.

Liverpool’s Mayor said that there were concerns over the impact on services of more asylum seekers arriving in Liverpool to lodge final appeals against deportation – with many council services in Liverpool already under strain because of the government’s austerity cuts.

“The problem is not knowing where they are going,” said Mayor Anderson.

“We have asked how many are already in Liverpool – where are they – and the Home Office don’t know.

“We will continue to do our fair share and offer the hand of friendship to people in desperate need, because that’s what this city is proud of.

“But this is asylum apartheid – people in the poorest areas are those who are forced to accept asylum seekers in their communities and they are already struggling.

“Only certain cities, such as Liverpool and Glasgow and a few others are taking asylum seekers.

“But we want to halt the government from progressing this without further discussion.”

In Liverpool, the UK Border Agency Further Submissions Unit is based at the Capital Building in Union Street in the city centre and this where failed asylum seekers will make their final appeals.

A spokesman for the Home Office said:

“The United Kingdom has a long and proud history of offering sanctuary to those who genuinely need it – and each claim is carefully considered on its individual merits.

“But when someone is found not to need our protection, we expect them to leave the country voluntarily. Where they do not, we will seek to enforce their departure.

“These changes will apply only to failed asylum seekers whose claims have already been refused.

“They will significantly speed up decision-making, enabling us to grant protection more quickly to those who genuinely need it.”

Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of immigration solicitors and can advise on asylum in the UK, the fast-track detention process, making asylum appeals and leave to remain in the UK.

Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors are a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors and can also advise on:

• British citizenship
• Five-year work permits
• Human Rights Act
• Illegal entry to the UK
• Marriage in the UK
• Right to work in the UK
• Student visas
• Visa overstays.

For expert legal advice on UK immigration law, call Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors.

For urgent help with immigration law – including fast-track detention and deportation from the UK – call the Duncan Lewis Emergency Hotline on 020 7275 2036, where an immigration lawyer is available 24/7.