The new safe and legal routes, announced in the Restoring Order and Control statement, will enable community groups, universities and employers to identify refugees they wish to sponsor, including individuals known to them. Any individual proposed for sponsorship would need to meet the eligibility requirements of the route and be subject to the relevant security and assurance checks before a decision is made.

The Home Secretary has stated that the routes will be capped. We anticipate that arrivals under the new safe and legal routes will start small and build over time. The number of arrivals will be carefully managed to align with the UK’s capacity to support refugees and the Home Office will retain overall control on numbers.

We are continuing to work with stakeholders to develop and design the new routes.

Further details, including eligibility requirements for refugees, the role of local authorities, and the funding, fundraising and status requirements for sponsors, will be set out in due course.

The Home Office publishes Afghan Operational data, including information on arrivals and grants of indefinite leave to remain under the Afghan schemes. This publication is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-resettlement-programme-operational-data.

Data on the number of individuals evacuated under Operation Pitting and subsequently granted indefinite leave to remain who have voluntarily returned to Afghanistan are not included in and are not available at this time

Travel to Afghanistan does not automatically negate an individual's eligibility for, or benefit from, an Afghan Resettlement Scheme.

Afghan Resettlement Schemes do not prohibit individuals who have been granted settlement in the UK from travelling to Afghanistan. As with other holders of ILR, settled status will normally lapse automatically if an individual remains outside the UK for a continuous period of two years or more.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.

ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.

We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.

Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.

There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.

ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.

We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.

Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.

There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.

ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.

We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.

Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.

There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.

ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.

We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.

Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.

There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.

The Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP) is delivered through close cross-government collaboration, with the Home Office working alongside the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as well as local authorities and strategic partners.

ARP governance is under continuous review to support its effective operational delivery. This includes ongoing work to refine programme plans and key performance indicators. Work is also underway to strengthen cross-government management information, including improvements to data sharing and reporting, to support consistent oversight and decision-making.

We continue to assess the challenges associated with relocating eligible individuals and supporting their move from transitional accommodation (TA) into settled accommodation. These include housing availability, local authority capacity, and access to employment and public services. The government works closely with partners to address these issues through funding, operational support and engagement with the housing sector. The impact of the nine-month limit for transitional accommodation is kept under review, with support provided to help families secure settled homes.

Engagement with delivery partners and service users informs improvements across accommodation, integration support and programme coordination, and these lessons are helping shape future resettlement schemes.

There are also positive examples of integration, including progress in employment, education, English language and community participation, with many families successfully rebuilding their lives in the UK.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, published in November 2025, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme and capped routes for refugee and displaced students to come to the UK to study or for work.

The delivery of the new routes will support the Government’s overall objective of providing an orderly and controlled system of safe and legal routes that is aligned with community capacity to welcome refugees.

Work is underway to deliver the new routes. Further details will be set out in due course.

In the Restoring Order and Control statement, published in November 2025, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme and capped routes for refugee and displaced students to come to the UK to study or for work.

Work is underway to deliver the new routes. Further details, including who will be eligible for the new routes, will be set out in due course.

The UK Resettlement Scheme is not currently taking new referrals. We are working through the role of the UKRS in the future landscape of safe and legal routes.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

Work is underway to deliver the named community sponsorship route.

Further details, including timeframes for the launch of the route, will be set out in due course.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to launching new Safe and Legal routes. This includes the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our global resettlement schemes, which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme.

We are developing new capped sponsored refugee pathways across education, labour and community routes. This will ensure that there are routes available to support individuals in need of protection, but in a way that meets the need of UK communities.

During the suspension of Appendix Family Reunion, the Government is taking forward wider asylum and family reforms to place the system on a fairer, more controlled and sustainable footing. Further information on forthcoming changes will be set out in due course. In the meantime, other family routes remain available, including Appendix FM: Family Members, which was amended to allow applications from a partner and dependent children of a sponsor with protection status in the UK.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme to enable community groups to sponsor refugees and displaced persons.

The Named sponsorship routes will enable community groups to identify and select refugees and displaced persons to sponsor.

Eligibility requirements for the route, including who can be sponsored, have yet to be set. Further details, including eligibility requirements, will be set out in due course.

In the Restoring Order and Control policy statement, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme and capped routes for refugee and displaced students to come to the UK to study or for work.

Eligibility requirements for the route, including who will be eligible, have yet to be set. Further details, including eligibility requirements, will be set out in due course.

The Restoring Order and Control policy statement set out how the Government would transform its approach to safe and legal routes. Alongside the new community sponsorship route, the Government committed to the creation of capped routes for refugee and displaced students to study in the UK, and for skilled refugees and displaced people to come to the UK for work.

Work is underway to operationalise these new routes and further details will be provided in due course.

The Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) was launched in April 2024 in response to a data incident by the Ministry of Defence. The scheme was launched by the last Government following appropriate discussions and collective agreement.

The Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) was launched in April 2024 in response to a data incident by the Ministry of Defence. The scheme was launched by the last Government following appropriate discussions and collective agreement.

Syrians resettled under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) were granted permission to work and recourse to public funds on arrival in the UK.

The UK has transitioned to a fully digital immigration system, replacing physical documents such as Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and visa vignettes with eVisas, which now serve as the primary proof of immigration status.

An eVisa shows an individual’s identity and immigration status, including right to work, rent or access public funds.

Individuals use their UKVI account to generate a share code to prove their status to employers, landlords or carriers, including when travelling.

On 14 July 2025, we published updated country information which enabled decision making to resume on Syrian asylum and settlement protection claims. Where an applicant arrived in the UK via the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, we will proceed straight to considering a grant of indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Claimants will be required to meet the relevant validity (i.e. apply on the relevant form and establish their identity) and suitability requirements (i.e. consideration of any criminals' convictions) of the settlement protection policy.