In response to media reports that more than a third of asylum applications are made after Home Office enforcement officers encounter the asylum-seeker in the UK, Steve Symonds, Refugee Programme Director for Amnesty International UK, said:

“This is not about an abuse of the system, it’s about unfair rules and a process which is routinely failing people in need of safety and asylum.

“It’s hardly surprising that so many people are unwilling or unable to claim asylum on arrival in the UK as government policy and practice has long been to deter asylum claims, which itself promotes a lack of trust in the system.

“Very few of the world’s refugees come to the UK and those that do, often do so because of family or other connections, or because they've found only insecurity and hopelessness elsewhere.

“But the UK offers no asylum visa to permit their travel, despite the fact they cannot claim asylum unless they get here, so forcing people to rely on smugglers and false documents.”