The ECRE, a pan-European alliance of NGOs, denounced that asylum seekers in the United Kingdom are being deprived of their right to study. This is following the enactment of a legislative change to immigration law.
In recent weeks, significant numbers of asylum seekers in the UK have been informed that they are prohibited from studying, including some who had been preparing for important examinations, according to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). It said legislative changes brought in under the country's 2016 Immigration Act, which came into force in January 2018, have affected the status of asylum seekers who are in the UK without leave to enter or remain; including those who are waiting for the Home Office to make a decision on their asylum application.
New provisions impede migrant education
The ECRE said until recently these individuals were granted 'temporary admission', but as of January, this and several other kinds of status have been grouped together under the new status of 'immigration bail'. As with the old status of temporary admission, immigration bail places restrictions on individuals, such as a ban from working or the requirement to live at a specific address or report to the Home Office; however, the new status may also now include a condition preventing study, ECRE said. Guidelines published by the Home Office suggest that "it will be appropriate to impose a bail condition restricting work and studies in the majority of cases". It said the immigration bail provisions are retrospective, meaning that they affect not only people who have just arrived in the UK, but also anyone who is already in the UK but does not have leave to enter or remain.
Possibility of arrest
The ECRE said if someone violates the rules governing immigration bail or if the Home Office has reason to believe they will do so, the Home Office has the power to arrest and detain that individual. Violations can also lead to asylum appeals being rejected. Activists in the country are concerned that the no-study condition is not made clear in the paperwork, which could lead to asylum seekers unknowingly violating it. The topic of migrant education was also brought to attention last week when the Department for Education is reported to have made a reversal on its controversial policy to collect data on pupil nationality and country of birth from schools, a policy that had attracted widespread criticism throughout the country.