Migration news roundup week commencing 03 August 2026
This Migration News Roundup presents a selection of news, policy, research and statistics from the previous week on migration-related topics.
Content warning: This week's news roundup contains brief references to death that readers may find distressing.
UK borders and migration policy
Stories that inspired us this week
UK borders and migration policy
As Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering exempting care workers from the changes to settlement rules proposed last autumn, this article is shedding light on uncertainty felt by healthcare workers and nurses from the Philippines about their future in the UK. Relatedly, a newspaper has published a retraction about misinformation it published about data on families joining care workers that was repeated in many outlets. (Sources: the Guardian, South West Londoner, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism)
Lewisham Council has pledged to stop providing information and resources to assist the Home Office with its immigration enforcement activities, the first local authority to do so in the UK. (Source: BBC)
On Channel crossings:
Hours after the busiest day for small boat crossings so far this year totalling 752 arrivals, it’s been reported that French police have been using teargas to prevent asylum seekers from boarding boats. This comes amid sad news of more deaths linked to the Channel crossing, including three women found dead in one of the boats. (Sources: Home Office, the Guardian, BBC)
As a teenager is charged with piloting a dinghy across the Channel with a record 165 passengers, this new analysis estimates over 1,000 people have been convicted of illegal arrival into the UK since the offence was introduced in 2022 and explores reasons behind that specific charge. (Sources: BBC, Free Movement)
This new publication looks at unauthorised migration in the UK, including the difficulties in measuring its scale and nature. (Source: Migration Observatory)
Here’s an updated guide on fee waivers for immigration applications explaining the policy, application process and evidence required. (Source: Movement)
Specific migrant groups
News on asylum includes:
The Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee criticised the Home Office for its approach in introducing a simplified asylum process for applications from a small number of ‘safe’ countries, expressing concerns over lack of safeguards preventing people from being refused asylum without the chance to present further information. (Source: Electronic Immigration Network)
The government's information booklet for asylum applicants has been updated to reflect recent changes to the asylum system including the new 30-month grant of leave to remain. (Source: UK Visas and Immigration)
An Upper Tribunal judge has suggested that the Home Office used 'AI hallucinated' information to claim a Moroccan woman was safe to return home, citing a county policy information note (CPIN) about Morocco that didn’t exist. (Source: the Guardian)
Hundreds of refugee charities have written to the new Prime Minister to propose a new 'blueprint to fix the broken asylum system' which they say offers a 'gimmick' free and cost-effective way to move forward. (Source: Asylum Matters)
A Defence Committee report has found that the Afghan data breach which affected over 18,000 people was partially caused by lack of staff training in Microsoft Excel. The Ministry of Defence (MoD), which administered the scheme, was also criticised for its handling of applications from Afghan Special Forces personnel, thousands of which were rejected without full investigation in a bid to speed up the decision-making process. (Sources: UK Parliament, Independent)
On children and young people, charities continue to raise concerns that the UK’s proposed use of AI facial age-assessment technology could wrongly classify asylum seeking children as adults, exposing them to the risk of detention and removal. Meanwhile, in this article, a social worker reflects on how the asylum system's control over unaccompanied asylum-seeking children's time, through various assessments, appointments and delays, can compound feelings of powerlessness in young people. (Sources: the Guardian, Community Care)
A national advisory body on international students has urged the new Prime Minister to pursue a 'stable, welcoming and joined-up policy environment' with international students at the centre. Its #WeAreInternational awards are open for nominations, recognising students, staff and institutions supporting international students. (Source: UK Council for International Student Affairs)
In the week marking the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, the Home Office has been found not to be following policy governing leave for victims of human trafficking. Despite guidance allowing grants of leave for up to 30 months, permission to stay was capped at 12 months if required treatment didn’t have an end date, but this practice wasn’t published as a policy at that time. (Source: Free Movement)
This article raises concerns over Home Office treatment of political activists settling in the UK through the Hong Kong BN(O) scheme in spaces such as border controls and immigration applications. (Source: the Guardian)
Here you can read a special Windrush edition of a magazine from Kirklees. (Source: Kirklees Local TV)
Cohesion and integration
This article points to the ethnic diversity of the new UK cabinet to demonstrate a shift over time. The UK has moved from having ‘examples’ of senior politicians from minority backgrounds, through this being normalised rather than symbolic, to a period where a politician's ideology or position on a topic like immigration can't be assumed from their ethnicity. (Source: The Conversation)
Locally, Calderdale council has voted to leave the local authority of sanctuary scheme that recognises councils for committing to being welcoming towards people seeking sanctuary in their area. Meanwhile, Leeds is shrinking along with other large cities in the UK, which is attributed to falling net migration. (Sources: Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post)
International news
It’s been 75 years since the signing of the 1951 Refugee Convention:
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has joined with 75 leaders from across society to launch The Promise, a global declaration of solidarity with refugees. (Source: UNHCR)
Here, there’s an insight into the history of the Convention and why it still matters for refugees, highlighting the danger of scapegoating of people from refugee and migrant communities for political purposes. (Sources: UNHCR, InfoMigrants)
A new report warns that due to a significant decrease in humanitarian funding, the Convention ‘is facing its most serious test yet’. (Source: International Rescue Committee)
In other recent news, eastern Libyan authorities say they deported more than 117,000 irregular migrants and registered over 100,000 Sudanese nationals for voluntary return, while in Ceuta - a Spanish exclave and the only EU land border with Africa - around 60,000 people crossed the border in a single day from Morocco, the group equivalent to more than half of the city's size. (Sources: InfoMigrants, BBC)
Stories that inspired us this week
Here, Zahra Joya describes growing up in Afghanistan dressed as a boy so that she could attend school. Now in the UK, she’s grateful for being safe but wants to continue fighting for the rights of Afghan women. (Source: BBC)
Watch Olha Honcharuk, who received an 'employability and work readiness' adult learning award from North Yorkshire Council, as she progressed from entry level to a level three accounting qualification. (Source: North Yorkshire Council, two minutes)