Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 September 2022 to Question 40760 on Refugees: Afghanistan, how many of the 11,400 Expressions of Interests from individuals seeking resettlement to the UK under Pathway 3 of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme meet the eligibility criteria; how many of the 1500 places available in the first year under Pathway 3 have been allocated; how many of those places are for (a) individual applicants and (b) applicants’ dependents; if she will make it her policy to (i) bring forward the Government's 20,000 resettlement commitment over five years under the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme to one year and (ii) increase the UK's current resettlement commitment; and if she will make a statement.

The UK has taken a significant and leading role in the international response to supporting at-risk Afghan citizens. Under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) the Government will welcome up to 20,000 people from Afghanistan and the region resettled to the UK over the coming years.

Under ACRS pathway 3 we will offer resettlement places to up to 1,500 people from the three identified cohorts. This includes the principal applicant and their eligible family members. The number of places for each of the three cohorts under ACRS pathway 3 in the first year will be kept under review.

The FCDO received over 11,000 expressions of interest - for Pathway 3 - though many of the expressions of interest received are from individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria for year one of the pathway.

Those who are eligible and are referred for resettlement under ACRS Pathway 3 will be informed by email from the FCDO with advice on the next steps. We have now begun to inform individuals of the outcome of their expression of interest and we will continue to communicate the outcomes to individuals throughout autumn 2022, as each expression of interest has been considered on a case-by-case basis.

It would not be appropriate to provide numbers until we have communicated the outcome of expressions of interest to all the individuals concerned.

We must bear in mind that the capacity of the UK to resettle people is not unlimited and therefore difficult decisions about who will be prioritised for resettlement have to be made.