The UK has plans to expedite some asylum requests after official figures revealed on Thursday indicated that the backlog of people awaiting a decision reached a record high of over 160,000 last year.

According to a leaked document obtained by British media, thousands of candidates from particular nations won't be subjected to interviews right away, but instead would receive a brief questionnaire.

Asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, and Syria will receive the questionnaires; these countries presently have approval rates for some form of protection of over 90%.

Both sides of the immigration debate have been incensed by the decision. While the Red Cross has warned that it might have a "devastating impact" on vulnerable refugees, the right-wing paper, the Daily Mail, has claimed that this decision amounts to an "amnesty" for 12,000 migrants.

As of December 31, a total of 160,919 asylum applicants have been awaiting a decision, with 109,641 of them being on the wait list for longer than six months.

The result indicates an increase of 17,542 since September and a surge of more than 60,000 annually.

UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed to diminish the backlog come the end of the year, highlighting that he also pledges to put an end to the boat crossings of the Channel.

Increase of 17,000 migrants illegally crossed channel to UK in 2022

Official estimates released on January 1, 2023, indicated that more than 45,000 migrants traversed the English Channel to the UK from mainland Europe in 2022, topping the previous year's record by more than 17,000.

This became a major political issue for the Conservative UK government, which has vowed to reduce illegal immigration and dismantle the smuggling networks that carry out such crossings.

Last year, 45,756 individuals made the perilous small-boat crossing of one of the world's busiest shipping routes, compared to 28,526 in 2021.

Last month, four individuals died when a tiny boat carrying migrants overturned in the Channel amid frigid weather, while 43 were rescued by a nearby fishing boat.

The number of migrants crossing the #Channel in small boats to seek asylum in the #UK hit a new daily record for this year, with Border Force officers bracing for thousands of more arrivals this summer. pic.twitter.com/8zjpZ5pFtG

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 4, 2022

This incident happened a little over a year after at least 27 people were killed when their dinghy capsized, causing soul-searching on both sides of the Channel.

The year 2022 also witnessed the largest single-day total of migrants crossing, with 1,295 making the voyage on August 22.

Read more: No. of illegal EU border crossings in 2022 hits 6-year high: Frontex