The British government has announced that two new safe and legal migration routes will be introduced enlisting community organizations such as churches and trusted universities to sponsor refugees for resettlement into the UK.
Britain is set to introduce new immigration legislation that will include two new safe and humanitarian routes for asylum seekers and refugees to settle in the country.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is reportedly set to introduce two migration routes this week, alongside some tougher rules intended to set new limits on immigration claims on human rights grounds and under modern slavery law, the British newspaper, The Guardian, reported on Friday (26 June). The bill is expected to be put to parliament this week.
One sponsorship scheme will allow community groups such as churches to identify refugees to support while a university student scheme will enlist academic institutions. A third scheme will allow employers to sponsor refugees from next year.
Designated organizations would be responsible for providing support to refugees in finding housing and work.
The government would work with the UN High Commission on Refugees to establish eligibility - and background checks would be conducted before refugees could come to the UK, reported the BBC.
The government did not say how many people would be allowed to arrive under the new routes, added the BBC, but said it would be capped and start from a low base - and would "operate at a much higher capacity" than UKRS (United Kingdom Resettlement Scheme) once it is fully established.
It also said the Home Office would control which organizations could provide sponsorship and that all applicants would be subject to strict checks.
The ideas in the scheme were already flagged in the "Restoring Order and Control" policy paper released in November 2025. In it, the Home Office said the scheme would allow, "Communities and institutions in the UK to have a far greater say over who the UK supports."
"The process will begin with the Home Secretary setting an annual cap on the number of arrivals that will be accepted through safe and legal routes. This will be based on the capacity and ability of communities to welcome refugees," said the statement.
The statement also explained that the new model "will give greater say to communities and support refugees as they settle, become self-sufficient, and contribute to their local areas."
Canada model of immigration
A similar scheme in Canada on which the community sponsorship is based has reportedly allowed 400,000 refugees to enter the country since 1979.
The new legislation comes on the back of news of the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer last week. As leader of the Labour party, Starmer introduced these planned reforms, as a way for the UK to manage irregular arrivals into the country.
British government data indicate that a significant number of people were first detected crossing the Channel on small boats in 2018, when 299 people arrived. The number of arrivals have fluctuated, reaching a peak of around 46,000 in 2022, falling in 2023, and rising again to an estimated 41,000 in 2025.
Between 2018 and June 28 this year, a total of 204,431 migrants have arrived via small boat from across the Channel.
Support and criticism
The organization Safe Passage International continually highlights the importance of safe and legal routes, also to help combat the dangers and power that smugglers pose to those who don't believe there is any other route to reach the UK. In a report in 2024, the organization said: "Our work has shown that refugees will choose official routes over smugglers where they represent a realistic alternative. In the first weeks after the Russian invasion, Ukrainians gathered in Calais in the hope of reaching the UK. After two highly flexible and well-resourced safe routes to the UK were opened, only one Ukrainian made the journey across the Channel."
Dr Krish Kandiah OBE, founder of the Sanctuary Foundation, has been part of the focus group consulted by the Home Affairs Committee. He told the Christian news portal Premier Christian News that the plans are a "fantastic idea."
"This isn't the government forcing people to take refugees in asylum hotels, wherever [the government] wants. This is about local people making local decisions to help a global problem."
"It might be your local church has a connection, maybe through your missionary, and recognises there's someone facing extreme persecution," Kandiah explained. "Wouldn't it be amazing if we, as churches, could say 'we want to help,' and one of the best ways we might be able to help them is to come out of the country, rebuild their lives in our communities with our support. So, it's a fantastic opportunity."
The anti-migration Reform party has criticized the move, saying that if they were to win power in the next election, they would immediately reverse this decision. The Conservative party, also in opposition, has said that no more migrants should be let into the country until irregular migration has stopped.
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Safe and humanitarian pathways
Data from the UK Home Office lists the various safe and humanitarian visa programs allowing people into the UK.
- Ukraine Scheme visas were introduced in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine for individuals affected by the war
- British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) visas introduced in 2021 allowing those with BN(O) status and their family members to live, work and study in the UK
Qualified for BNO visas are Hong Kong residents applying from outside the UK, British nationals overseas or the child of a British national overseas born before or after July 1, 1979. Also included are residents of the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Hong Kong if applying within the UK
- Refugee resettlement schemes for the transfer of refugees from other countries to the UK
- Refugee Family Reunion visas for the partners and children of refugees in the UK to join them. This family reunification visa was paused on September 4, 2025. However, applications in process and submitted before the pause, will continue to be progressed under the rules in place prior to the pause
In the year ending March 2026, there were 190,809 visas granted based on these safe and humanitarian routes, allowing people to come to, or remain in, the UK. This was 2.5 times higher than in the year ending March 2025.
Speaking to the British newspaper, The Guardian, a source for the Labour Party said: "The home secretary’s belief is we must play our humanitarian role to provide safe harbor to those fleeing peril. That is why we will open new, safe and legal routes for genuine refugees. These will be modest at first, they will grow in time, with the aim of thousands of refugees a year eventually coming to build a new life here in Britain once order and control has been restored."
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