New immigration rule changes laid in Parliament on Tuesday move to end the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), for Afghans who had worked with the UK government and their families, to new applications from July 1.
Some 21,316 Afghans have been resettled to the UK through Arap since it was launched in April 2021.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), designed to help vulnerable people and those who assisted the UK efforts in Afghanistan to legally come to safety in the UK, will also be closed.
The scheme formally opened in January 2022 with a pledge by the then-Conservative government to resettle up to 20,000 people “over the coming years”.
Documents on Tuesday show more than 12,800 people have been resettled through ACRS, with children making up more than half the arrivals, and women accounting for a quarter.
The closure comes as Defence Secretary John Healey said in December that the schemes cannot be an “endless process”, adding: “The Government intends to reach a position where the UK Afghan resettlement schemes can be closed.”
A Home Office paper published on Tuesday said: “He now considers the Arap to have fulfilled its original purpose and can be closed to new principal applications, not least so that defence efforts and resources can be focused where they are most needed - on our nation’s security, to combat the acute threats and destabilising behaviour of our adversaries.”
The document said Arap’s closure to new applications is the first step to completing Afghan resettlement, and the Government aims to have “successfully honoured its obligation” to complete resettlements by the end of this Parliament.
But head of campaigns at Safe Passage International, Gunes Kalkan, said the charity was “shocked” by the closure of the “lifeline for those who continue to be persecuted and forced into hiding from the Taliban”.
He said: “This Government is abandoning the original promise to bring 20,000 Afghans to safety. In fact, falling far short and leaving people, including the children and families we support, in dangerous situations with no hope of rescue.
“This comes as the Government is also committed to stopping refugees crossing the Channel to reach the UK.”
As Afghans make up one of the top nationalities to make the dangerous journey, Mr Kalkan said “we’ll only see more people risking their lives”.
“Instead of closing down safe routes, this Government must open more and continue to help Afghans to reach protection and loved ones.”
Applications made under Arap before the closure will still be considered, the Home Office document added, as the Ministry of Defence currently has a backlog of 22,000 decisions from the scheme.
Referrals made under ACRS’s Separated Families pathways will also still be considered where decisions have not yet been reached.
The document added the Government will honour commitments to anyone found eligible, and to those who are deemed eligible but are not yet in the UK.
The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.
