Resettlement schemes for Afghans to come to the UK after the Taliban takeover have been suddenly closed by the government.
The changes have been snuck out in an explanatory memorandum to new immigration rules published by the Home Office.
The Ministry of Defence’s resettlement programme for Afghans who fought and served alongside British troops, called the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), closed to new applicants as of Tuesday at 3pm.
Under the new rules, an Afghan applicant must have applied for help on or after 1 April 2021 and before 3pm BST on 1 July 2025 to be considered eligible.
The Home Office’s scheme for vulnerable refugees and Afghans who assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan (ACRS) has also been shut down.
No more referrals are now being accepted for relocation to the UK through the resettlement pathway. Charities slammed the government for "shutting down a lifeline" for Afghans living in fear from the Taliban.
Gunes Kalkan, head of campaigns at Safe Passage International, said the move would leave “people, including the children and families we support, in dangerous situations with no hope of rescue”.
He added: “We are shocked that the government has today quietly announced the closure of the resettlement routes for Afghans - a lifeline for those who continue to be persecuted and forced into hiding from the Taliban.
“Instead of closing down safe routes, this government must open more and continue to help Afghans to reach protection and loved ones”.
Dr Sara de Jong, professor at the University of York and co-founder of charity The Sulha Alliance, said: “The sudden closure of all UK safe resettlement pathways for Afghans comes as a surprise for the Sulha Alliance and our community of Afghan interpreters and other locally employed civilians.
“Instead of giving advance notice of the closing date, the government has chosen to close the schemes by stealth. Even 30 minutes before the deadline, the webpages of both schemes gave no warning or information about the pending closure.
“What will happen with applicants who have submitted or wanted to submit a request for a review of a negative decision, many of whom have been waiting for months if not years?”
She added that the simultaneous closure of ACRS is equally shocking as its promises were never fulfilled. “In 2021, it claimed that ‘up to 20,000’ Afghans at risk could come, but now the UK government only meets 65 per cent of that target, despite the extremely dire situation for Afghans who assisted UK efforts in Afghanistan and stood up for democracy, women’s rights and rule of law”, she said.
Defence secretary John Healey said at the end of last year that resettlement schemes for Afghans to come to the UK will be merged and eventually closed down, but did not give a time frame for when this would be.
According to government data up to the end of May 2025, 21,316 people have been brought to the UK under the Arap scheme.
Armed forces minister Luke Pollard said in a statement on Tuesday that “all applications received to date will continue to be processed”.
The operation of the scheme has come under criticism for mistakes made by caseworkers that saw hundreds of people who should have been eligible for UK relocation rejected and left to the mercy of the Taliban.
The High Court heard in May that the process for determining whether former members of Afghan special forces who served alongside British troops can be resettled to the UK was a “disaster area” so terrible it could be likened to a “crime scene”.
The changes to the Arap scheme, published on Tuesday, affect future principal applications. People who have already been found eligible for the Arap scheme will still be able to make applications to bring their family members to safety.
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