What would you do about immigration?

Not if the men came with them.

Because claiming asylum is a fundamental human right upheld in human rights law.

This is a law that also benefits us. If our country went to shit or war tomorrow and you were personally at risk then you also benefit from having the right to seek asylum in other countries. The fact we don't currently need to exercise that right is a blessing that we're lucky to have.

Once you start undercutting human rights law then you're into very murky territory and that puts us all at risk. It's not about being soft, it's about making sure as a country we act legally in accordance with UNCHR.

Who is ‘we’, I’d happily welcome Afghan women.

Well which one would you choose?

Option 1 - apply online, receive "asylum approved", use this to book train/boat/plane tickets to travel legally and safely to destination country

Option 2 - pay ££££ to traffickers to climb into the fake bottom of a lorry, where you end up stuck for days, dehydrated, maybe you die, at the very least you end up severely traumatised from the journey, only to hope you can apply for asylum upon arrival

What Australia does.

Yeah except that there is no evidence that supports this. The student visa route is one of the best adhered to visas. The vast majority leave once they have finished their studies.

Edited to add I missed your outrageously racist second paragraph. Nasty. Dependents haven’t been able to come for several years either.

We don't want them women or otherwise.

If it were feasible I'd say:

• Visa pathway for shortage skills - construction, nurses, STEM teachers etc and allow families over. This would stop a lot of small boats full of Albanian guys who are literally mostly coming to work in trade jobs and we frankly need them
• Checking people's criminal records and chucking out anyone with violent/sexual/repeated incident criminal records (obviously being mindful of dodgy governments that may fit people up)
• Enough people to check asylum claims quickly, and maybe some way of allowing claimants to be economically active, which the vast majority would like to be

If you enter the country illegally, you’re detained until removal back to your home country or a safe neighbouring country if your home country is deemed unsafe.

If you’re of use to the UK, you can start a claim to remain providing you have the funds to support yourself during the processing period.

I cannot understand why people would welcome Afghan women only if the women abandon their sons, husbands, lovers, and male elders. It is a whole new oppression to strip someone of their family.

Develop more accessible routes to apply for asylum prior to arrival from more than 2 countries (as is the case currently).

Allow people to work while waiting on asylum applications to process.

Include demonstrated community engagement and involvement in the asylum application process to encourage people to integrate properly.

Dedicate more resource into clearing the insane backlog of applications.

Dedicate more resources into tackling the gangs involved in people smuggling and human trafficking in partnership with other countries.

Prioritise creating safe access pathways for women and children.

France offered the UK a chance to build an asylum processing centre near Calais in 2016, but the Tory Government turned it down. This then handed the transport of asylum seekers into the hands of criminal gangs, as we still see today.

A cynic might think that some people in the UK were making money out of this.

I’m not sure if this may already be in place, but a system for reviewing asylum status every couple of years or something?

I’m aware for example of men claiming asylum, then going on benefits, then being able to bring their wives with them who don’t speak english or work, who then give birth to several children here.

Should we be reviewing cases like this where if they are not working or haven’t learnt english despite being here several years?

Correct me if there is already a review system like this in place.

I’m not suggesting they claim in France, just stay there while their claim for asylum in the UK is being processed.

Sorry to keep banging on about this. Nobody has answered the question as to how applying for asylum from outside of the country stops illegal immigration.

This is a good post OP, but

The 1951 Refugee Convention (and ECHR) makes it very difficult to return people who reach UK territory and claim asylum, especially if their home country is unsafe or they have a plausible fear of persecution.

That's the whole point of why the Rwanda plan was introduced - which the electorate rejected. Having said that, public opinion seems to have shifted towards it in the last two years.

How does that stop illegal immigration?

I don't have ill feelings towards migrants and have been a migrant myself. I do think the asylum system is a bit bonkers. The average cost of processing an asylum seeker is £12,000. The cost of housing is a lot more. You can claim asylum for things like gender, religion and sexuality which obviously covers an awful lot of people. That doesn't seem financially sustainable. Having said that, at an individual level I feel huge sympathy and would want to let people stay.

@FeistyFrankie That’s really interesting because I was discussing this with DH earlier. Can you point me in the direction of where that statistic came from?

We don't want them full stop.

Last statistic I saw was that 98.5% of students here on visas go home once their course finishes. Has this changed?

Then you need to create a legal system that allows people to apply for asylum from outside of the country.

You can't reapply for asylum, it's immediate threat to life

I would allow online asylum applications, so that those granted asylum can be issued the relevant paperwork to travel legally.

Anyone showing up on the back of a lorry or a boat - immediate deportation.

I appreciate this would be an absolute logistical nightmare to implement, however. But over the long term I can't really see why we don't move to an online system. That way those granted asylum can be housed and issued with something like a temporary work permit or whatever as soon as they arrive, so they can work legally, and pay taxes.

Providing the ability to travel safely to the UK also weakens the power of the traffickers and smugglers. Because if migrants etc realise that this method - which is not only deadly, but may well result in deportation - doesn't actually help them, that then acts as a deterrent. So I think we'd actually see a significant drop in numbers.

Probably wouldn't work in practice, unfortunately.