Key takeaways: What are the proposed reforms to the asylum system?

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has unveiled what has been billed as the biggest changes to tackle illegal migration “in modern times”.

The package, inspired by the stricter approach introduced by Denmark’s center-left government, makes refugee status temporary, shortens the appeals process and threatens to ban visas from countries that block returns.

This is what we know:

People granted asylum in the UK will only be allowed to stay in the country temporarily, and their status will be reviewed every 30 months.

This means that people could be returned to their home country if it is deemed “safe.”

The plan mirrors Denmark’s approach, where refugees get two-year permits and must reapply when they expire.

The government says it has already begun supporting people to return to Syria voluntarily following the overthrow of the Assad regime.

It will now begin exploring forced returns to Syria and other countries to which people have not been routinely moved in recent years.

Refugees will also need to reside in the UK for 20 years before they can apply for permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain (up from the current five years).

Meanwhile, the government will create a new “work-study” visa route and encourage refugees to find employment or begin education so they can switch to this route and achieve settlement more quickly.

Only those on this work and study route will be able to sponsor family members to join them in the UK.

The Home Secretary also plans to end the process that allows multiple appeals in asylum cases and replace it with a single consolidated appeal in which all grounds must be raised at once.

A new independent appeals body will be created, staffed by trained judges and supported by early legal advice.

To this end, the government will introduce a law to change the way the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is applied in migration court cases.

Only those who have immediate relatives, such as children or parents, will be able to remain in the UK in the future.

Greater weight will be given to the public interest in the removal of foreign offenders and persons who entered illegally.

The government will also limit the application of Article 3 of the ECHR, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment.

Ministers say the current interpretation of the law allows multiple appeals against asylum denials, including the deportation of serious criminals being blocked because their healthcare needs cannot be met.

The Modern Slavery Act will be tightened to curb last-minute trafficking complaints used to stop deportations, by requiring asylum seekers to reveal all relevant information in advance. Any information disclosed subsequently will be treated as less credible.

Mahmood will revoke the legal duty to support asylum seekers, ending the housing guarantee and weekly payment.

Support would still be available to “those who are indigent” but would be denied to those who have permission to work but do not, and to people who break the law or defy deportation instructions.

Those who have “made themselves deliberately destitute” will also be denied support.

Under the plans, asylum seekers with assets will have to contribute to the cost of their accommodation. This echoes Denmark’s approach, where asylum seekers must use their savings to pay for their accommodation and authorities can confiscate their assets at the border.

UK Home Office sources have ruled out confiscating sentimental items such as wedding rings, but Home Secretary Alex Norris has suggested electric cars and bikes could be the target.

The government has previously pledged to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers by 2029, which according to official figures cost the government £5.77m a day last year.

The government is also consulting on plans to end the current system in which families whose asylum claims have been rejected continue to receive housing and financial support until their youngest child turns 18.

Ministers say the current system creates a “perverse incentive” to remain in the UK without status. Instead, families will be offered financial assistance to return voluntarily, but if they refuse, forced removal will occur.

As well as restricting access to refugee status, the UK would create new legal routes into the UK, with an annual cap on the number of refugees.

Under the changes, volunteers and community groups will be able to sponsor individual refugees, echoing the “Homes for Ukraine” scheme, where the British took in Ukrainians fleeing the war.

The government will also expand the work of the Displaced Talent Mobility pilot, set up in 2021, to encourage businesses to sponsor at-risk people from around the world to come to the UK and help fill skills gaps.

The Home Secretary will set an annual limit on arrivals via these routes, based on local capacity. But those who come through legal routes will follow a simplified ten-year path to reaching a deal.

Visa sanctions will be applied to countries that do not cooperate with return policies, including an “emergency brake” on visas for countries with high asylum claims until they accept their citizens who are illegally in the UK.

The UK has already identified three African countries that it plans to penalize if their governments do not improve cooperation on deportations.

The governments of Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will have a month to begin cooperating before a sliding scale of sanctions is imposed, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

The government also plans to implement new technologies to strengthen law enforcement.

Testing of AI-powered technology will be more widely deployed to verify the age of asylum seekers, particularly those who claim to be children.

Additionally, the government plans to introduce a digital ID before the end of Parliament. This will allow more precise right-to-work checks by employers and make it harder for illegal workers to use fraudulent documents, the government argues.