The UK is to start processing Syrian asylum claims again, more than seven months after decisions were paused following the fall of the Assad regime.
Asylum minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Home Office had “worked to lift the pause as soon as there was sufficient information to make accurate and well-evidenced determinations”.
She said claims could now be processed, and returns to Syria conducted in line with this.
BBC News understands more than 20 asylum seekers who had been living in the UK have already voluntarily returned to Syria this year – and that thousands of others could now also be in scope for returns.
Ministers hope the first enforced returns to Syria could take place before the end of the year, with a senior Home Office source adding that they “wouldn’t say it’s a million miles away”.
The government has published updated guidance for officials to make decisions on Syrian claims.
The UK paused decisions on Syrian claims for asylum and permanent settlement in December, after President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by a rebel offensive led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), following years of civil war.
In a written statement, Dame Angela said the pause “was a necessary step while there was no stable, objective information available to make robust assessments of risk on return to Syria”.
However, the move left more than 7,000 Syrians waiting for a decision on an asylum claim in limbo.
The majority of these are living in government-funded accommodation, such as hotels.
The pause also applied to Syrians who had already been granted refugee status and were initially given the right to stay in the UK for five years before being able to apply for permanent settlement.
Campaigners say being left with this temporary status makes it harder for people to secure a job or housing.
Welcoming the move, Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, said: “We know the pause in decision making had left Syrian people trapped in further limbo, unable to work, move on with their lives and fearing for their future.
“However, the situation in Syria continues to be unstable, and we urge the government to ensure that every asylum application is assessed on a case-by-case basis, ensuring the safety and protection of Syrians who would face extreme risk if they are returned.”
Figures affiliated with HTS – which is designated a terrorist group by the UK – now run the country, with HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa named as Syria’s interim president earlier this year.
Under the United Nations Refugee Convention, an individual must have a “well-founded fear of persecution” to be granted asylum and refugee status.
The Home Office’s updated guidance on Syria states that a “breakdown in law and order or uncertain security situations do not in themselves give rise to a well-founded fear of persecution”.
“There are not substantial grounds for believing there is a real risk of serious harm in Syria because of a serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in a situation of international or internal armed conflict,” it adds.
“All cases must be considered on their individual facts, with the onus on the person to demonstrate they face persecution or serious harm.”
The UK has also been gradually lifting sanctions on Syria.
The government’s updated guidance is based on a process similar to a risk assessment that examined whether Syria was deemed a safe country.
That process is usually carried out jointly by the Home Office and Foreign Office and can only be done if the UK has some sort of diplomatic relationship with the country in question.
Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary David Lammy met interim president al-Sharaa, as he became the first UK minister to visit Syria since the uprising that led to the country’s civil war began 14 years ago.
At the time of Lammy’s visit, figures inside the Foreign Office believed any move to begin processing Syrian asylum claims again was likely still some months away.
But some European countries have already started to process claims, with Austria becoming the first EU country to deport someone since the fall of Assad.
The BBC has been told that senior figures inside the Home Office believed there was a risk that the UK could be seen as a more attractive place for Syrian asylum seekers, if European countries began processing claims and returning people, but the UK did not.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron raised concerns about the “pull factors” attracting migrants to come to the UK on small boats, ahead of a ‘one in, one out’ deal signed by the UK and France.
Ministers have previously suggested that the majority of Syrians who arrived in the UK before the fall of Assad were fleeing the regime, and some may now wish to return.
On the issue of returns, the guidance notes that following the change in government, opponents of the former Assad regime are “unlikely to be at risk upon return to Syria solely on that basis”.
On the situation for religious minorities, it states that Kurds, Christians, Druze and Shia Muslims are “are unlikely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from the state” and “the onus is on the person to demonstrate otherwise”.
However, it adds that Kurds in areas under de facto control of the Syrian National Army – a coalition of Turkish-backed rebel groups – “are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm” based on their ethnicity or perceived political opinion.
It also says that although the new government has sought to assure members of the Alawite minority they will not be subject to violent reprisals, Alawites “are likely to face a real risk of persecution or serious harm from the state due to their religion and/or an imputed political opinion”.
Many of the former Assad regime’s political and military elite belonged to the Alawite sect.
The guidance notes that in March members of the Alawite minority were subject to a series of attacks which killed an estimated 800 people, with HTS-affiliated groups reported to have been involved.
