Immigration: Afghanistan
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce additional safe and legal routes for Afghan nationals at risk.
Answered by Alex Norris
The Afghan schemes were never intended to operate indefinitely. On 1 July 2025, the Government announced the closure of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy to new principal applications, and the closure of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. On 4 July 2025, the Government agreed the discontinuation of the Afghanistan Response Route, which was announced on 15 July 2025.
We remain fully committed to honouring our existing commitments to all those individuals found eligible under the Afghan schemes.
In November 2025, the Government committed to transforming its approach to safe and legal routes in its Restoring Order and Control statement. This included the creation of a named sponsorship scheme and capped routes for refugee and displaced people to come to the UK to study or for work. Work is underway to deliver these new routes and further details will be set out in due course.
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