Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to resume decision-making on applications for indefinite leave to remain from Syrian nationals resettled under the Community Sponsorship Scheme.

Following the fall of the Assad regime, the Home Office withdrew the Country Policy Information Notes and guidance relating to Syria and has temporarily paused all asylum interviews and decisions.

Settlement Protection applications from Syrian nationals are also subject to the pause, and this includes indefinite leave to remain applications from Syrian nationals resettled under the Community Sponsorship Scheme.

The decision to pause was, and remains, a necessary step. As long as there is no stable, objective information on which to base an accurate assessment of a claimant’s risk on return to Syria, we are unable to make robust, reliable decisions on claims for international protection.

Settlement in the UK is a privilege, not an automatic right. Given the need for protection may be temporary, a safe return review is carried out on every application for settlement on a protection route to determine and confirm the need for protection is continuing.