JAKARTA - Britain's asylum system underwent its most significant change in decades on Monday, March 2, with refugees no longer automatically granted long-term protection under new rules that take effect without a parliamentary vote.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the overhaul while on a fact-finding trip to Copenhagen, speaking to GB News during her visit. Under the new system, asylum seekers granted refugee status will receive 30 months of leave to remain instead of the previous five-year initial period. 

Their cases will be reviewed every 30 months and they could be returned to their country of origin if it is judged safe to do so. Unaccompanied children are exempt, continuing to receive five years of leave while a longer-term policy for the group is developed.

"We are changing an age-old assumption of what it means to be a refugee — moving from a permanent to a temporary status," Mahmood said. "It will be less attractive for illegal migrants to come to our country," she mentioned, adding she wanted to "change the calculus in the minds of the people about to get on a boat." 

The changes are being implemented through amendments to immigration rules rather than primary legislation, meaning Parliament will not vote on them. They apply retrospectively to people granted refugee status as far back as 2021, meaning some refugees who expected to apply for permanent residency within months could instead face up to 15 additional years of temporary status before becoming eligible for settlement.

The Refugee Council calculated that the Home Office would be required to conduct between 1.66 million and 1.9 million reviews of refugee status over the first decade, at a cost to the taxpayer of between £1.1 billion and £1.27 billion. 

Chief Executive Enver Solomon warned the plans were "unworkable" and would put "a 20-year hold on the lives of refugees who cannot go back to danger and now cannot move forward and rebuild their lives." 

Mahmood faces a massive backbench revolt, with reports suggesting as many as 80 Labour MPs are preparing to rebel following the party's loss of the previously safe seat of Gorton and Denton to the Green Party.

Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh were the five most common nationalities of claimants in 2025, accounting for 39 percent of all applications.