Immigrants without legal status in the United Kingdom – including asylum seekers, refugees and migrants -- are getting official support to return home. The British Home Office is offering three thousand pounds to anyone who voluntarily leaves Britain by June 30th. The International Organization for Migration, or IOM, is partnering with the British government to implement this project, called the “Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme.
Supporters say it makes deportation easier and more efficient. The Communications Manager for the IOM, Marek Effendowicz, told English to Africa’s Angel Tabe that if it is carried out in a dignified, orderly and voluntary manner, migration is a benefit to both individuals and society. But the program offers assistance program to migrants who legally can not stay or who do not wish to stay: “ Our principal program is a voluntary program designed for people who are applying, appealing [for asylum] and people who have been refused. If they have been refused then obviously they have no further right to remain in the country…. This is a humanitarian policy of return so that people can rebuild their lives in a sustainable way.”
Effendowicz says those who receive financial support must report to the IOM office in their home country to verify they've left the UK.