Home Office Sees Huge Increase in Asylum Claims

The number of people who are coming to the UK to claim asylum has shot up. Official figures show that asylum applications have increased by almost 27% for just the first three months of this year. The Home Office figures, between January and March, show over 8,380 asylum applications. This is the highest number since 2004.

The amount of people, including families, who were claiming political refuge was up one-third to just over 10,000 compared to a year ago. Across all of the European states, the amount of asylum applications coming in has gone up by at least 2%.

Although the number of asylum seekers has increased, the amount of failed asylum seekers has fallen by almost 7% to 2,805, meaning that more people are claiming asylum, but less people are being turned down. Separate fugues did show that the number of Eastern European emigrants who are coming to Britain to work has fallen. Only 180,000 nationals from new EU countries, like Poland, were given the right to take jobs in the UK. This is a fall of about 19% for 2008.

This year the number of emigrant workers coming from the EU has fallen even further to 133,000. The same figures also show that hundreds of thousands of Eastern European emigrants have started going home as the recession started. The number of people leaving the UK has more than doubled this year when compared to 2008. The Home Office has promised to stay up-to-date with the total number of people both coming and leaving the UK.

For more information visit: www.homeoffice.gov.uk