British Interior Minister James Cleverly will sign a new treaty in Rwanda today on the deportation of illegal immigrants, reports the British news agency PA.
The UK has been planning to send boat refugees who illegally enter the country to Rwanda. That plan must have a deterrent effect on potential new migrants.
However, in early November, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the initial deal between the UK and Rwanda was in violation of the European human rights treaty. Rwanda would not be a country where all the migrants flown in from the UK are safe, something the human rights treaty does prescribe.
Shortly after the ruling of the Court, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that he wanted to continue the Rwanda deal. He said that it was important to make a new agreements with Rwanda.
PM Sunak also wants to guide emergency legislation in its own country that confirms that Rwanda is indeed a safe country, to which migrants can be sent without danger.
The details of the new agreement to be signed have not yet been announced.
The government has unveiled new measures aimed at significantly restricting immigration, with a goal of reducing the annual number of legal immigrants entering the United Kingdom by hundreds of thousands.
In 2022, the UK experienced a record surge in legal immigration, surpassing departures by 745,000 individuals. Interior Minister James Cleverly is advocating for decisive actions to curb this trend and bring legal immigration levels down.
One proposed measure is the introduction of an income requirement, mandating that prospective immigrants must earn a minimum salary to be eligible to relocate to the UK. Starting from the spring of 2024, individuals seeking to move to the UK will be required to have an annual salary of at least £38,700 (equivalent to over 45,000 euros).
British citizens already residing in the UK who wish to bring their families over will also be subject to the same income threshold, nearly double the existing limit. However, exceptions to this rule will be made for healthcare and social sector workers, acknowledging the critical dependence on foreign personnel in these fields. Despite this exemption, concerns have been raised by critics who fear that the restriction on family relocation may exacerbate shortages in these essential sectors.
