Asylum: Calais

(asked on 9th March 2016) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has held with her French counterpart on the processing of asylum applications for people in Calais.


Answered by
James Brokenshire Portrait
James Brokenshire
This question was answered on 15th March 2016

The Home Secretary has regular detailed conversations with her counterpart on the processing of asylum applications for migrants in Calais, most recently at the UK France Summit on 3 March. This discussion confirmed that no individual needs to remain in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk.

The UK shares the French Government’s objective of increasing the number of individuals who take up the offer of safe and fully equipped accommodation away from Calais so that they can engage with the French immigration system, including lodging an asylum claim. The French Government has, with the support of UK funding, established more than 100 Welcome Centres elsewhere in France where migrants in Calais can find a bed, meals and information about their options.

Under the UK France Joint Declaration signed on 20 August last year, the French Government is increasing the number of places in its asylum system, and is encouraging those in Calais to claim asylum. The numbers of migrants entering the French asylum system has increased significantly - over 2,800 migrants from the Calais area claimed asylum in France last year. Asylum claims lodged in France are the legal responsibility of the French authorities. British authorities do not process asylum applications made in other Member States.

Reticulating Splines