Over 80% of migrants to UK across English Channel awaiting asylum

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More than 80% of migrants who have arrived in the UK across the English Channel since 2018 have received no response yet to their asylum applications, The Times reported on Wednesday, citing the ministry of interior.

Only about 4,000 (8%) and 3,600 (7%) of the 52,294 asylum seekers have been given positive and negative verdicts on their applications, while the other 44,700 applicants (83%) have not received a response yet, since the Home Office has not reviewed their papers yet, the ministry’s data provided by The Times said.

98% of those who arrived over the past year are still waiting for their decision, the newspaper said. About 43,500 people have reached the UK since the beginning of the year in small, sometimes self-made, boats across the English Channel.

People without a defined legal status have no right to work in the UK.

Last week, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said that to process one asylum case takes on average one week, adding that migrants "exploit the generosity of the British people."

In October, The Telegraph reported the high court in the UK has ruled that the Home Office operated an unlawful, secret, blanket policy to take almost 2,000 mobile phones from asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats and then downloaded data from these phones. 

It was unclear how many can claim compensation, but some estimates suggested the number could be as high as several thousand, yet many may not know they are entitled to the compensation due to the confusion around the unlawful Home Office policy to seize mobile phones. Judges described the unlawful phone seizures as "a failure of governance."

Some asylum seekers told judges they were “bullied” into handing over their passcodes so officials could unlock personal information including emails, photos, and videos, and download them to an intelligence database called Project Sunshine.

Former Home Secretary, Priti Patel, formally apologized for this immense error, whereas the lawyers who acted on behalf of three asylum seekers welcomed the judge's declaration that the blanket policy of removing migrants’ phones was unlawful and said it was a “scandal” that so many had their phones taken away from them.