According to the latest Home Office report to parliament, more than 22,000 refugees arrived between 2014 and 2021. [Getty]
Britain intends to resume its forced deportation programme for Syrian refugees to their country, The New Arab has learnt. The move comes as thousands of Syrian families in the UK are anxious over delays in decisions on their residence renewal applications.
Sources within the Home Office told TNA, “We are currently considering resuming forced deportation operations (for Syrian refugees) to Syria.”
The sources noted the programme would also include several countries to which Britain has not carried out routine deportations in recent years.
According to the sources, the Home Office is currently reviewing around 3,500 applications from Syrian refugees seeking to extend their residency, stressing that applications are being processed “in chronological order of submission”, not based on health or family circumstances.
Semi-official estimates indicate that the total number of pending applications stands at 6,500, awaiting a final decision. The sources added that British authorities would take into account the security situation in different areas of Syria at the time of deportation to ensure the safety of returnees.
In a statement to TNA, A. J., a 32-year-old Syrian refugee, said he has been waiting for more than 13 months for a decision from the Home Office on his residency renewal. He added that he, his wife and their three children fear “a sudden decision that would disrupt their lives.”
The refugee, from Daraa province in southwestern Syria, noted that even if financial assistance were provided to facilitate their return, he “does not know how sufficient this aid would be to rebuild their lives there, or how secure his area would be.”
The UK Home Office suspended all interviews and decisions on asylum applications on 11 December 2024, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, citing “insufficient information about conditions” as justification. On 14 July 2025, the suspension was lifted after updated information became available that enabled “sound, evidence-based decisions”, according to the sources.
The Home Office had begun supporting the voluntary return of Syrians after the fall of the regime, but sources confirmed that only a “small number of individuals” had returned in the first half of 2025.
They also said there was coordination on voluntary return programmes between Britain and several European countries hosting Syrian refugees, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, and the Czech Republic, after those countries began voluntary deportation operations.
Under UK immigration laws, if forced deportations resume, the status of Syrians who have already been granted asylum through permanent resettlement programmes would not be affected. According to the latest Home Office report to parliament, more than 22,000 refugees arrived between 2014 and 2021.