UK Reopens Refugee Resettlement Scheme With Priority for Afghan Women and Girls

Bareen Media -The United Kingdom has reopened its refugee resettlement scheme, with Afghan women and girls, Palestinians and people with disabilities among those receiving priority.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced the reopening at the Labour Party conference. The government expects about one-quarter of referrals under the scheme to involve Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees.

The programme will initially accept several hundred refugees, with numbers potentially increasing to the low thousands in later years. The government will set an annual cap, and applicants will undergo identity, security and criminality checks before travelling to Britain.

Refugees will be identified and referred through organisations including the UN refugee agency and the International Refugee Assistance Project. Those accepted through the resettlement route will have a five-year pathway to permanent settlement.

Family units will be able to move together, although the scheme does not extend the same provision to wider relatives. The government has presented the programme as a legal and controlled route for people fleeing war and persecution.

The reopening follows the suspension of new referrals in December 2024. The UK is also preparing additional community and refugee employment sponsorship routes, with the first arrivals under those programmes expected from 2027.