5 days ago - The UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership was an immigration policy proposed by the governments of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak whereby people whom the United Kingdom identified as illegal immigrants or asylum seekers would have been relocated to Rwanda for ...

August 13, 2024 - It has announced that it will redirect money intended for the scheme to fund a new border agency. Nobody was forcibly sent to Rwanda under the scheme, and in the foreseeable future, it seems unlikely that anybody will be.

1 day ago - People whom the Home Office wishes to relocate to Rwanda will be identified and referred to the Rwandan authorities on a case-by-case basis, after an initial screening process in the UK. Although the scheme originally focused on inadmissible asylum seekers, it has since been expanded to cover people who never lodge an asylum claim, have an asylum claim turned down or go voluntarily (one man has voluntarily relocated to Rwanda after being refused asylum).

July 14, 2025 - The former UK Government said that the policy aimed to tackle and deter the business model of people smuggling and ‘small boat crossings’. Guidance from the Home Office previously stated: “The Partnership will see those travelling to the UK through illegal, dangerous, or unnecessary methods considered for relocation to Rwanda, where they will have their asylum claim processed.”

June 13, 2024 - Separately, in May the Home Office said the Rwanda scheme was being expanded to include those people who had already had an asylum claim refused or withdrawn and were unable to appeal.

February 3, 2025 - The Rwanda scheme became the linchpin of successive Conservative governments’ ‘stop the boats’ policy - perhaps unsurprisingly, as Rwanda was the only country to have agreed to accept the UK’s ‘illegalised’. Under this scheme, individuals who were deemed to have transited through a safe country en route to the UK would be removed to Rwanda to have their asylum claims examined under Rwanda’s asylum system, notwithstanding this system’s deficiencies.

March 18, 2024 - For it to break even, it will need ... the government’s plans, billions could be sent to Rwanda to remove people who have already arrived irregularly since the Illegal Migration Act was passed....

On 14 April 2022, the UK Government announced a new Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) with the Government of Rwanda, later re-named as the UK-Rwanda Asylum Partnership.

December 7, 2023 - In particular the treaty provides that Rwanda cannot send a relocated individual (even if not granted refugee status) to any other country – except back to the UK, if the UK so requests.

October 2, 2025 - The Rwanda asylum plan was a cruel scheme to send away people seeking asylum in the UK. Learn what Freedom from Torture did to fight the policy.

April 8, 2026 - The Rwanda plan was meant to stop the boats – but all the evidence shows deterrence doesn’t work

April 25, 2024 - Rwanda has a strong history of providing protection to those that need it, and currently hosts over 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have found safety and sanctuary there. The UNHCR operates its own refugee scheme in Rwanda.

June 18, 2024 - As such, the whole plan will cost in excess of £600 million for only 300 individuals to be forcibly relocated to Rwanda – this works out at around £2m per asylum seeker. It is little surprise that only 16% of the UK public see the scheme as good value for money.

February 20, 2026 - Moreover, the scheme will likely cost billions to remove people who are already here, assuming the government does not change the date from which the ‘duty to remove’ applies. The only winner from this scheme appears to be the Rwandan government itself, which has secured hundreds of millions without doing much at all.

February 11, 2025 - In this rolling update on the Rwanda case, we explain the UK Government’s plan to send people to Rwanda, the human rights issues involved, and what UK courts and the European Court of Human Rights have said about it. Latest update (written 11th February 2025): The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill was introduced to Parliament in February 2025.

March 1, 2024 - Rishi Sunak’s flagship plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will cost taxpayers £1.8m for each of the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali, Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has disclosed.

September 6, 2024 - If their claim was accepted in Rwanda the could be allowed to stay there, and if not they could apply to settle in the country on other grounds or seek asylum in another country. Like the UK, the German government is under pressure to tackle illegal migration, particularly after the recent success of the far-right, anti-immgiration Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party in state elections. Speaking to the Table Briefings podcast on Thursday, Mr Stamp suggested a scheme could target people crossing the EU's eastern borders and be overseen by the UN Refugee Agency, the UNHCR.

April 10, 2025 - A protester against the Rwanda deportation scheme in Croydon, south London, in April 2024. Labour scrapped the scheme after coming to power.