India will now be added to the list of safe states by the UK government, which would expedite the process of repatriating individuals who have entered the country unlawfully.This means that any asylum applications made by Indian nationals who enter the country illegally through other channels or on small boats will be rejected. Theyre going back, and there wont be an appeal.The UK Home Office announced in a statement that Georgia and India will be added to the governments list of safe states. The ruling, it said, will be another step towards implementing the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and putting an end to the boats.The notification on the official X account came on November 8.India & Georgia are to be added to our list of safe states.The change, under the Illegal Migration Act, will speed up the return of people with no right to be here. pic.twitter.com/R4tlDsX7ca— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) November 8, 2023The UK Home Office in the statement said, Draft legislation laid in Parliament today (Wednesday 8 November) will strengthen the immigration system and help prevent abuse, including by people making unfounded protection claims.According to the UK Home Office statement, Indian and Georgian small boat arrivals have witnessed a rise over the last year despite people not being at obvious risk of persecution. It further said, Deeming these countries safe will mean that if an individual arrives illegally from either one, we will not admit their claim to the UK asylum system.The UK Home Office stated that the other nations deemed safe by the UK include Albania and Switzerland, the European Union and European Economic Area states. UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said that they must stop people from making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK from fundamentally safe nations.In the statement, Braverman said, We must stop people making dangerous and illegal journeys to the UK from fundamentally safe countries. Expanding this list will allow us to more swiftly remove people with no right to be here and sends a clear message that if you come here illegally, you cannot stay.We remain committed to delivering the measures in our Illegal Migration Act, which will play a part in the fight against illegal migration, she added.According to the UK Home Office, a country can only be included in the list of safe states (known legislatively as Section 80AA), if the UK Home Secretary is satisfied that there is, in general, no serious risk of persecution of its nationals, and removal of nationals to that country cannot go against the UKs obligations under the Human Rights Convention.The UK Home Office has said that the designation of nations under Section 80AA is subject to the draft affirmative procedure. This means scrutiny will take place in the usual way via debates in both Houses of Parliament before the measure comes into force.(With inputs from ANI)
