Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what changes have been made to the consideration of Indefinite Leave to Remain applications for people of Syrian origin who have refugee status.

Settlement is a privilege, not an automatic right, and provides permission to stay in the UK permanently and freedom from immigration control for those who still require protection. However, as the need for protection may be temporary, a safe return review is carried out on every application for settlement on a protection route, including Syrian nationals, to determine and confirm the need is continuing. If there are, for example, significant improvements in country conditions or changes in personal circumstances that mean someone no longer needs protection, they may be expected to return to their country of origin or to apply to stay in the UK under other provisions of the Immigration Rules.

Those who are still at risk of serious harm in their country are not expected to return there. Where appropriate they will be granted limited leave if they do not qualify for settlement.

Where an applicant arrived in the UK via the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS) after being referred as a convention refugee by the UNHCR and granted refugee or humanitarian protection leave to remain, the SSHD will proceed to considering a grant of indefinite leave to remain in the UK. The applicant will be required to meet the relevant validity (i.e. apply on the relevant form and establish their identity) and suitability requirements (i.e. consideration of any criminal convictions) of the settlement protection policy.

For more information on the settlement protection policy, please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/settlement-protection-asylum-policy-instruction.