Will you sign up to the new refugee sponsorship scheme?

[JoyousOpalLemur]

The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is apparently announcing next week a new refugee sponsorship scheme.

It would allow households to privately sponsor refugees from conflict zones.

Applications open this autumn, with the aim of resettling more than 10,000 people.

It’s modelled on Canada’s scheme and the Homes for Ukraine programme.

Sponsors would commit to providing financial, emotional and practical support.

What do people think? I just can't help thinking that with the current pressures on housing, schools, GPs and local services, how this will actually work in practice? Has anyone been involved in the Ukraine sponsorship scheme and can share what it was really like day-to-day?

Curious to hear everyone’s views.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/home-secretary-announce-scheme-refugees-uk-lgdr8ff25

How would you know who you’d end up with? Not all cultures are equal

Archive version: https://archive.ph/qj4r5

As for the scheme, no, no chance I'd get involved.

I think it’s a great idea. Most of those folks claiming asylum have a claim becuase they have family members in the UK but the present system sees them kicked into the detention system. This sounds like a sensible route to enable those with family connections to be cared for through existing networks - providing a support network through family and wider community and an opportunity to disperse refugee communities throughout the country rather than have everyone living in barracks or hotels. I think is a dignified solution all round.

Yeah because every person who crosses the channel on a boat or back of a truck illegally is a GP!
There is a perfectly legal route to entry into the UK if you qualify.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-list/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-list

Absolutely not. We should not be encouraging more migrants.

Absolutely not. That's what my taxes are for.

I do have the skills to work in a voluntary or paid capacity with refugees, and would be happy to do that. That way it's support for practical and emotional purposes, but without the ties to my personal life and home.

I'm all for supporting genuine refugees and contributing to that, because being a refugee is hard and involves trauma and lack of choice to be a refugee. It's not coming from my personal family finances or personal life though, because you never know who you might get.

The majority of people seeking asylum are from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Somali. And they are almost all men.

No l can't afford to

Will you sign up to pay and support @SadSandwich?

Jesus Christ… what next….!

Hard no to a stranger in my home. Plus how long is it for, what would it cost me, what happens if it doesn’t work out? Absolutely not.

There’s the option to just pay and support if you don’t have the space.

Thank you for the offer, but I'd rather have a piano fall on my head.

It sounds as sponsorship will.be through organisations such as universities , churches, employers etc rather than individuals

BBC News - Mahmood announces new refugee sponsorship route into UK - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yz952dm74o

Having an undocumented male from a totally different culture in your home with no boundaries for an undefined period of time?

I mean yeah, what could possibly go wrong? 😂

Aren't we already paying through our high taxes?

If they have family members in the Uk as you claim, then they can go and live with them straight away can’t they? Do you think that anyone who lands on UK soil without any documentation should be left alone to go on their merry way or do you think it might be wise to check on their identities and stories beforehand?
Every single person who enters a country legitimately has their identity checked at Border Security. Should we stop that? If you choose to go to the USA for a holiday, you have to apply for a visa well beforehand, and ensure your passport is valid. This is scrutinised at entry. Should a bloke who turns up at the border with no documentation and says he’s from South Sudan be allowed entry just on his say-so?

So are you going to be clearing your spare room for one then?

Literally could think of anything worse. It sounds utterly bonkers.

Exactly. Nowhere does it suggest that you sign up and end up with someone in your home.

My in-laws hosted a Ukrainian mother and her 2 children, they have now got her settled into her own accommodation, put her in touch with local charities and helped her decorate and furnish her new place. They still have them round for a monthly Sunday dinner and even were invited to her house to see her older son before he went to prom last week.
I’m not sure if they will sign up again, they are in their 80’s now and fil has recently been diagnosed with some health conditions which are looking a bit precarious but they have often taken people in who need a helping hand up in the world.

Why don’t they go and stay with their friends and family then, rather than strangers having to deal with them?

Having fostered unaccompanied asylum seeking ‘children’ for some years in the past I think it is a very foolish and potentially dangerous scheme. I so wish I could say more but needless to say if someone offered a home to one of these adults they will most likely be men. My feeling is unless the host is a single male this would not work. So that means no women or children

No

Imagine being a refugee, maybe with kids, and your only option is a home with a creepy predatory man signed up to this scheme. Stupid and horrible.