No clear case for routinely granting Albanians asylum - MPs

People fleeing Albania to travel to the UK should not routinely beryllium granted asylum - due to the fact that it is simply a harmless country, a committee of MPs says.

The Home Affairs Select Committee noted a spike successful Albanian arrivals past year, but recovered small grounds to suggest its citizens were astatine risk.

However, it said immoderate Albanians making asylum claims, peculiarly women, had been trafficked and needed protection.

The authorities said it was moving with Albania to halt amerciable migration.

In a report published connected Monday, the cross-party committee stressed that Albanian migrants to the UK were improbable to necessitate asylum.

It highlighted figures showing that successful 2022, much than a 4th of the 45,755 radical who crossed the Channel successful tiny boats came from Albania - "and astir claimed asylum".

It added the fig of Albanians arriving successful the UK by this way had gone from 800 successful 2021, to 12,301 successful 2022.

"Albania is simply a harmless country," the MPs said. "It is not astatine warfare and is simply a campaigner state to articulation the European Union.

"There is nary wide ground for the UK to routinely judge thousands of asylum applications from Albanian citizens, the committee finds."

It suggested that driving factors for radical coming to the UK from Albania mostly included amended occupation opportunities and higher wages.

Figures successful the study besides showed that from January to June 2022, 51% of Albanian cases were initially accepted - though the bulk of these claimants arrived connected ferries oregon planes alternatively than tiny boats.

The committee said 9 countries, including Germany, had accepted nary asylum claims from Albania during that period.

It called connected the Home Office to explicate wherefore the UK's acceptance complaint was truthful precocious - peculiarly compared to different countries.

But the MPs besides flagged determination were "unquestionably cases of Albanian citizens being trafficked to the UK".

It said much needed to beryllium done to enactment the Albanian victims of radical smuggling - particularly women.

Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson, the committee's chairwoman, said determination had been a "substantial abrupt summation successful asylum claims from a seemingly peaceful country".

She said: "While it is important that questions are asked and lessons are learnt, it is wide that the migration representation is not static and volition proceed to evolve."

The MPs recommended the authorities beforehand seasonal enactment visas successful agriculture and operation to springiness much Albanians the accidental to travel to the UK without making unauthorised Channel crossings.

It besides said due safeguards indispensable beryllium enactment successful spot earlier immoderate victims of trafficking were returned to Albania, and recommended the UK support beardown links with the country's government.

Dame Diana said: "Changes successful migration volition inevitably spot strain connected immoderate system, but the authorities indispensable bash overmuch much to guarantee it tin amended grip these stresses."

She besides said it was important the "UK improves its wide attack to asylum".

He said a woody with Albania to instrumentality migrants had led to 1,800 radical being sent back, and that was having a deterrent effect.

A Home Office spokesperson said "this government's precedence is stopping the boats".

It went on: "Last year, 28% of those who arrived by tiny vessel to the UK were from Albania - a harmless European state and Nato state - placing further strain connected our asylum system.

"We've worked intimately with the Albanian authorities to disrupt transgression gangs and deter amerciable migration. In the 5 months to the extremity of May, Albanian tiny vessel arrivals are down 90% connected past twelvemonth and we person returned 1,800 amerciable migrants and overseas criminals backmost to Albania. Thanks to changes to our asylum system, we person gone from accepting 1 successful 5 Albanian asylum claims to conscionable 1 successful 50, successful enactment with different European countries.

"We volition cautiously see the study and respond successful owed course."