The UK government is planning to pay rejected asylum seekers up to £3,000 ($3,836) to move to Rwanda under a new voluntary scheme to clear the line of refugees, the British media reported.
The plan is said to be a variation of an existing scheme under which asylum seekers are offered financial assistance to leave the UK and return to their home country, the media added.
A feature of the new plan is that the refugees will now be offered relocation to Rwanda rather than a return to their country of origin, as the British Home Office reportedly believes the scheme may be of interest to citizens of war-torn countries.
Kevin Hollinrake, the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Business and Trade, told the media that the scheme would be considered a "good use of public money" as "it costs a lot more money than that to keep people in this country who are out here without merit."
London and Kigali signed a migration agreement in 2022 under which people identified by the UK government as undocumented migrants or asylum seekers will be deported to Rwanda for processing, asylum, and resettlement.
Towards the end of June 2023, the UK Court of Appeal deemed London's deportation strategy for illegal migrants to Rwanda as unlawful, prompting an appeal by the UK Home Office to review the decision. On November 15, 2023, the UK Supreme Court also declared the plan illegal.
However, in early December, UK Home Secretary James Cleverly inked a new pact with Rwanda, aimed at collaborative efforts against irregular migration.
On January 18, the plan was approved by the House of Commons, the lower house of the British parliament.
However, in early March, the House of Lords, the upper house, voted to introduce stricter safeguards into the scheme, in what local media described as "the first defeats on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government as it tries to pass controversial legislation."
In 2022, the UK witnessed an influx of over 45,000 migrants. The nation's authorities reportedly allocate several million pounds daily to accommodate refugees in hotels.