Trading in human lives: unpacking the UK/European transfer scheme

On Tuesday, the government introduced a new Appendix UK/European Applicant Transfer Scheme to the immigration rules and below we consider the implication of the new scheme from the perspective of an NGO working with people in Northern France. These changes come into swift effect following the coming into force of the treaty UK/France: Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys. The appendix is short and sets out how the UK plans to transfer a limited number of people from France to the UK. For a detailed look at the provisions in the treaty and the immigration rules see Sonia’s article here.

Refugee Legal Support has been working in Northern France for more than three years and we are one of the few UK based NGOs who frequently go to Northern France to provide legal information. While further details about the scheme are yet to be released, our sustained presence in Northern France gives us a deep understanding of the context on the ground and informs our serious concerns about the fairness and feasibility of this scheme.

Restrictive documentation requirements

First, applicants will be required to have a copy of their passport or another document which proves their identity. Many asylum seekers and refugees do not possess passports or formal identification documents, often because they are unable to obtain them before they are forced to flee.

For example, Eritrean nationals are routinely denied passports by their government as a matter of policy. Just yesterday in Calais, we spoke with many people from Eritrea and almost none of them have copies of their Eritrean passports because they were never able to obtain one. Eritrean nationals are the top nationality crossing the Channel in 2025 but will almost all be excluded from this scheme.

Lack of clarity on quotas and prioritisation

Second, we do not know how many people the UK government hopes to move between the UK and France as part of this pilot scheme. We know the number will be limited and we know the total number of people transferred to the UK must equal the total number forcibly removed from the UK to France. Once the details of the scheme are finalised and the first application window opens, we expect that huge numbers of asylum seekers will apply.

Our team was at the day centre in Calais yesterday and 503 asylum seekers and refugees were in attendance. The vast majority seemed to be interested in the opportunity to travel to the UK to claim asylum.

It is also not clear what the eligibility criteria for the scheme will be, beyond the basic requirements set out in the immigration rules. For example, will the scheme prioritise the most vulnerable asylum seekers or those with existing family in the UK? How will the ‘selection’ process avoid being arbitrary or discriminatory?

Accessibility of the application process and legal assistance

Third, the government has not made it clear how people will actually apply online. Our experience is that people may need assistance to fill in the form correctly and there is a significant lack of legal information and assistance in Northern France.

We are also concerned about fairness given the very limited availability and accessibility of legal aid when people arrive in the UK. Early reports indicate that individuals will be detained upon arrival, which raises concerns, given the evidence of difficulties and delays in access to legal advice in detention settings.

Inadequate safeguards for returns

Fourth, we have serious concerns about who will be returned to France and whether there will be sufficient screening procedures in place to identify victims of trafficking and minors. Asylum seekers we work with are often extremely hesitant to disclose experiences of trafficking in initial screening interviews and officers routinely fail to ask to follow up questions when new arrivals display trafficking indicators such as describing time spent in Libya.

The government has said that anyone who arrives by boat will have their asylum claim assessed as inadmissible. In practice, the government is unlikely to deport everyone who arrives by boat. Let’s remember that 1,047 asylum seekers have arrived by boat in the seven days since 29 July 2025.

We need further information about the criteria on which the government will select people for transfer back to France. And there will need to be rigorous screening age assessment procedures as many unaccompanied asylum seekers are wrongly determined to be adults.

Our experience working with young asylum seekers who have been criminalised is that the government chooses people often at random and without sufficient evidence. We are concerned a similar approach will be applied here.

Perverse incentives and human consequences of the transfer scheme

The policy is based on deeply flawed logic. In order to be eligible for the scheme, asylum seekers must not have been granted protection in another EU country and should not leave France while their application is being processed. In practice, this discourages people from claiming asylum in France and from seeking protection elsewhere. The result is people will be compelled to wait for indefinite periods in Northern France, without access to asylum support, secure accommodation, or public funds.

Rather than ‘break the business’ model of the groups organising dinghies across the Channel, this new deal will create a further reason for people on the move to travel to France, a country which is already processing 14% of all asylum claims made in the EU and the UK in 2024, around 50,000 more than the UK.

When the quota is inevitably and quickly filled, these people seem likely to be in prime position to perpetuate the business model as no other route to travel to the UK is available. The policy will also create fear and division. Those who in desperation come to seek safety in the UK via a boat crossing will live in fear of being detained and returned.

Numerous organisations in Calais and Grande-Synthe have already expressed their disgust that the new scheme promotes a cold trade of humans. When people apply for entry clearance they do so knowing their arrival may equal the removal of another person who was in their position weeks earlier. 

This article was co-authored with Francesca Parkes, Olivia Clark and Isaac Shaffer of Refugee Legal Support.