Good news for Zim asylum seekers in UK

By Tichaona Sibanda

Thousands of Zimbabwean asylum seekers are to benefit from the relaxation of immigration laws by the British government.

From July, the UK government quietly loosened the immigration rules for asylum seekers in order to clear a backlog of cases. The British government two years ago halted its policy of returning Zimbabwean asylum seekers because of the dire political situation.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees describes an asylum seeker as an individual who has sought international protection and whose claim for refugee status has not yet been determined.

SW Radio Africa can reveal that in the last few months, hundreds of failed asylum seekers from the MDC were granted leave to remain in UK after their cases were reviewed on an individual basis.

Reports in the British media on Friday said as a result of the changes, some 40,000 immigrants who had moved to the UK from Zimbabwe, Iran and other troubled countries have been told they can stay in the UK.

Jaison Matewu, the organising secretary of the MDC-UK, told us Home Office figures show that 20,000 Zimbabweans applied for refugee status in the UK in the last nine years and that slightly over 8,000 have been granted.

Matewu said they’ve always been lobbying the UK government to give asylum seekers the right to work while their claims were being processed by the Home Office.

’We’ve never stopped lobbying the government to allow those who can, to work, as their ineligibility for state benefits had rendered many destitute,’ Matewu said.

The 40,000 are among a backlog of 450,000 asylum cases which British ministers have pledged to clear by 2011. According to reports Phil Woolas, the UK immigration minister, wrote a memo suggesting that asylum applicants from countries with poor human rights records should be granted leave to remain in the UK if they have been living in the UK for 4-6 years.

Previously the rules stated that they must have been living in the country for 10-12 years before being granted leave to remain indefinitely. Woolas denied the new rules amounted to an amnesty.

‘There is no amnesty. Our guidelines were updated to provide case workers with a simple framework to judge cases, and to avoid long, drawn-out court battles. Less than 40 per cent of cases are being granted,’ he said.

Last year, Zimbabwe had the second-highest number of people seeking asylum in industrialised countries, according to a United Nations report released in July.

The report said the countries of origin showing a significant rise in applications for asylum due to unrest or conflict last year included Afghanistan, up 85%, Zimbabwe up 82%, Somalia, up 77% and Nigeria up 71%.