Coronavirus – Home Office forcing asylum seekers to travel from Glasgow to Liverpool amid Coronavirus outbreak

Asylum seekers are still being required to go to Liverpool to hand in documents despite official guidelines advising people to avoid travel during the coronavirus outbreak.

Currently, anyone seeking asylum in the UK is required to lodge their submissions at the Liverpool Home Office – a process that can take as little as five minutes.

Campaigners are now demanding these requirements are lifted while the outbreak is ongoing, warning that lives are being risked every day the current arrangement remains in place.

Positive Action in Housing, the refugee and migrant homelessness charity, warned that failing to take immediate action to protect asylum seekers was “a public health disaster waiting to happen”.

Robina Qureshi, the charity’s director, said:

“One of our service users, Nadiyah, 48, travelled to Liverpool by train to lodge her new asylum application at the Liverpool Home Office. She has serious health problems and is a high-risk category.

“This is the third time she has made this journey. Her lawyer phoned the Home Office in Liverpool and suggested that, at least while the coronavirus epidemic was in progress, clients should be allowed to post their documents. The Home Office categorically refused to consider this.

“It is madness in the current situation to make people travel. All that is involved is that an envelope of evidence is handed in. This takes a maximum of five minutes.”

Positive Action on Housing is now leading calls for MPs to relax the current rules and allow documents to be sent by post or handed in to the Home Office in Glasgow.

“Due to poverty and poor diet and the stress of Home Office delays that run into years, asylum seekers especially are likely to have weakened immune systems and more likely to fall victim to Coronavirus.

“There are 5,000 asylum seekers in Glasgow, which has the highest asylum population in the UK. It is beyond belief that the Home Office – a government department – would go against government advice not to travel. We are calling on the home secretary and the Home Office to step in and stop all travel to Liverpool and allow refugees and asylum seekers to post their submissions in order to let everyone stay safe.”

for more information about positive action in housing go to www.positiveactionh.org