3,300 more Families 'Here to Stay'

The Home Office has published today the Asylum statistics for the last quarter of 2005 as usual they are a mixture of very good and bad news for asylum seekers.

The good news:
3,300 families have benefited from the 'Family amnesty Exercise in the last quarter of 2005 bringing the total to 20,170 that is brilliant news

The bad news:
25% less asylum seekers made it to the shores of the UK in 2005

15,055 asylum seekers were deported in 2005 an increase of 1%

The use of immigration detention increased by 24% in 2005
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Asylum Statistics: 4th Quarter 2005 (October/November/December)
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Family Amnesty Exercise:
There were 56,160 main applicants identified for consideration as at 31 December 2005.
Of these 20,170 were granted ILR,
6,570 were considered on another Family ILR application,
9,090 were refused
8,395 were found to be ineligible.
There were 1,030 main applicants awaiting an initial examination and 10,900 awaiting a decision.

(The Family ILR Exercise, announced by the Home Secretary on 24 October 2003, allows certain asylum-seeking families who have been in the UK for four or more years to stay. To qualify, the main applicant of the family unit must have applied for asylum before 2 October 2000 and must have had at least one dependant aged under 18 (other than a spouse) in the UK on 2 October 2000 or 24 October 2003.)
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Removal of Asylum Seekers 4th Quarter 2005
* Principal applicants removed: 3,525; 4,085 including dependants
* In Q4, there were 3,525 principal applicants removed from the UK, 2% higher than in Q3 (3,460), and 20% more than in Q4 2004 (2,945).
* Including dependants, 4,085 asylum seekers were removed in Q4, 4% higher than in Q3 (3,935), and 19% more than in Q4 2004 (3,440). This was the fourth consecutive quarterly increase.

Top 10 asylum removal nationalities (principal applicants) Q4 2005
Iraq 375
Serbia & Montenegro 355
Turkey 340
Afghanistan 300
Pakistan 210
Nigeria 195
Iran 145
Sri Lanka 125
India 115
Albania 110
Other nationalities 1,255
Total 3,525
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Detention - including dependants 4th Quarter 2005
Total detainees 1,950, - (1,450 asylum seekers)

500 persons who were in breach of immigration rules (overstayers, 'illegal' entrants) were detained in IRCs and prisons.

1,450 persons who had sought asylum at some stage were being detained in the UK solely under Immigration Act powers, this accounted for 74% of all detainees. This excludes persons detained in police cells and those detained under both criminal and immigration powers.

1,340 were held at Immigration Service Removal Centres, 15 at Immigration Short Term Holding Facilities and 100 at prison establishments.

Top 10 asylum detained nationalities Q4 2005
Turkey 155
Nigeria 120
Pakistan 115
Afghanistan 115
Jamaica 80
India 65
China 55
Sri Lanka 55
Algeria 40
Iraq 35
Other nationalities 615
Total 1,450
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Applications for Asylum 4th Quarter 2005
* The number of applications for asylum in the UK, excluding dependants, was 2% lower in Q4 (6,165) compared with Q3 (6,315), and was just over a quarter (27%) less than Q4 2004 (8,480).

Top 10 applicant nationalities Q4
Iran 820
Eritrea 595
Afghanistan 510
China 470
Somalia 405
Zimbabwe 385
Nigeria 265
Pakistan 255
Dem. Rep. of Congo 235
Iraq 185
Other nationalities 2,035
Total 6,165

25,720 asylum applications were received in 2005, nearly a quarter (24%) lower than in 2004 (33,960).
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