Refugees to Britain May Not Have Had a Choice

Despite some very popular ways of thinking, some reports now show that most refugees have no idea where they will be heading to when they flee their home countries. These refugees have very little, if any, choice over which country they claim asylum in. Most of these people learned that they were heading to Britain after they left their home country.

The Refugee Council reports, based on in depth interviews with 43 different refugees and asylum seekers, also destroyed myths about "benefit tourism." These reports show that about three quarters had no knowledge of welfare support before coming to the UK at all. Many people in the UK accuse asylum seekers of heading to the UK because of the great support systems they have in place. However, it seems that many people do not even know about them in other countries.

The study, which was done by the director of the center for emigration policy research at Swansea University, Professor Heaven Crawley, shows that most asylum seekers often had to leave their home countries within a few days or weeks, because they were in fear for their lives. Their primary motivation was simply to reach a safe place.

Most of these people were helped to leave by an external party or agent who made the key decision about their destination. The research also shows that fewer than one third specifically wanted to come to Britain in the first place. A lot of the people were not even sure where they were going until they reached Britain. Thus, the move to Britain is just as hard, if not harder, for the refugees than what UK residents give them credit for.