- Community groups are given powers to sponsor refugees.
- Trusted universities to participate in extended sponsorship scheme.
- The sponsorship scheme would be “limited”: Home Office.
The UK Home Office has announced it will create new legal routes for asylum seekers, including allowing community organizations to sponsor refugees based on a similar system in Canada.
The system will be in place later this year, Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said late Friday, with organizations and some “trusted” universities able to sponsor refugees and first arrivals expected in the fall of 2027.
A route for employers to sponsor refugees is also expected to open next year, the Home Office said in a press release.
Immigration and asylum are difficult issues in Britain, where the hard-right Reform UK party has rapidly grown in popularity and is riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment.
Keir Starmer, who stepped down as prime minister this week but will remain in power until his successor is chosen, has tried to appear tough on immigration since coming to power two years ago.
His government will introduce legislation in parliament next week tightening asylum rules, including making it easier to deport failed asylum seekers and limiting family reunification for refugees to immediate family members.
The immigration policies of his likely successor Andy Burnham – who could replace Starmer as early as July – remain unclear, although he has acknowledged migration issues in his latest campaign to become an MP.
It is also uncertain whether Mahmood, the outspoken face of Starmer’s immigration crackdown, will remain in his post under the next prime minister.
“I will open new legal routes for genuine refugees, while closing loopholes that have been too often abused,” Mahmood said in a statement.
The new sponsorship scheme will “operate at a much higher capacity” than the UK resettlement scheme, which brought around 800 people in the year ending September 2025.
The Home Office did not say how many refugees could benefit from the scheme, but said it would be “limited”.
Previous sponsorship schemes have been aimed at countries, including resettlement for refugees from Syria or Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, Mahmood faced criticism from charities and within his own party over tough rules, including making refugee status temporary and banning study visas to some countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar and Sudan.
