Afghans told not to retrieve documents from Taliban
An Afghan who worked with the British Council and is applying to come to the UK has been told not to retrieve documents from the Taliban or risk rejection, despite assurances earlier this month that such demands would end.
On March 18th, the Ministry of Defence apologised after an investigation found that applicants to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy Arap scheme had to provide birth and marriage certificates in English and bear stamps from Afghan government departments.
10 days later, applicants for another government scheme for Afghan people who had worked with the UK armed forces or authorities are being asked by the government to provide documents signed by the Taliban-led government.
An applicant who was forced to leave Afghanistan for fear of reprisals was told by the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme, ACRS claimants must retrieve passports, birth certificates and marriage certificates signed by local authorities. The marriage certificate should clearly be stamped by the local authorities, a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office FCDO email to an applicant.
The FCDO insists the email does not reflect its policy and plans to contact the recipient to clarify the process. It comes amid deepening concerns that Rishi Sunak s government has failed to uphold promises made by Boris Johnson to support Afghans who worked and fought alongside the UK in Afghanistan.
The government announced on Tuesday that Afghans who have had to live in cramped conditions in hotels could get three months notice and may face being registered as homeless from April.
A Liberal Democrat MP was raised by an ACRS applicant who was a contractor for the British Council in Afghanistan. They originally applied to come to the UK under the Arap scheme but did not receive approval before August 2021 when western governments withdrew from Afghanistan, leaving Kabul to fall to the Taliban.
After several months of waiting, they were informed they must apply under the ACRS scheme and have received initial approval. As part of the verification process, they were asked to provide a marriage certificate stamped by local authorities, which are the Taliban.
The Afghan resettlement schemes have been a complete and utter shambles, according to the Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse. These brave people risked everything to help us. We are abandoning them because of political ignorance and departmental incompetence. In April 2021, before the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, the government launched the Arap scheme and opened ACRS in January 2022, which will allow up to 20,000 refugees to settle in the UK.
More than 24,000 Afghans had arrived in the UK as of December 2022, according to the government. More than 21,000 have been resettled under refugee schemes.
Operation Warm welcome was launched in August 2021 in order to aid the full integration of Afghans into British life after the US pulled out of Kabul. Johnson, the prime minister at the time, said: We will never forget the brave sacrifice made by Afghans who chose to work with us at great risk to themselves. A UK government spokeswoman said: "This message does not reflect departmental policy. We do not expect Afghans to provide every document requested through the ACRS, but we only ask them to provide the documentation they are able to.