Charities can now apply to sponsor refugees under two new Home Office routes
Charities can now apply to become lead sponsors on the Named Community Sponsorship and Refugee Study routes. The Home Office expects the first refugees to arrive through them in autumn 2027.
Charities across the UK can now apply to help bring refugees to Britain through two new, capped "safe and legal" routes, the Home Office has announced.
Applications opened on Thursday 29 October for organisations that want to become accredited lead sponsors on the Named Community Sponsorship route and the Refugee Study route. The Home Office said sponsors will provide accommodation and integration support and help refugees find work.
The first refugees are not expected to arrive through the new routes until autumn 2027.
How the routes will work
Under the Named Community Sponsorship route, local community groups will be able to choose eligible refugee households to sponsor. They will then be responsible for their housing and integration and for helping them into work. Parliamentary researchers say the route is likely to be a modified version of the existing Community Sponsorship scheme, which has run on a small scale for about ten years.
The Refugee Study route will let approved universities and higher education institutions sponsor refugees to study in the UK.
Lead sponsors will sit between the Home Office and local sponsor groups. To be accredited, an organisation must show that it is a registered UK charity or community interest company based and operating in Britain, and that it has the right policies and procedures in place.
In a statement to MPs, the government said lead sponsors would act as "intermediaries between the Home Office and sponsor groups". They will bring sponsors on board, check that proposed arrangements are suitable, submit applications and give ongoing support. The Home Office will still carry out security checks on each refugee and make every immigration decision.
Individual refugees cannot apply directly. Sponsors will identify the people they want to support, and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, will assess refugees through its established processes.
Numbers and countries
The government said the routes will be brought in gradually. At first they will operate only in seven countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Uganda.
Ministers expect arrivals across the new routes and the existing UK Resettlement Scheme to number in the hundreds at first. The government said this would grow to the low thousands as levels of illegal migration fall.
The Home Office has said refugees arriving through the UK Resettlement Scheme or the new sponsorship routes will initially be given permission to stay for five years. After that they may be able to apply to stay permanently.
What happens next
A third route, which will let employers sponsor refugees for work, is expected to open to applications in spring 2027.
The government says the scheme is based on Canada's private sponsorship programme, which has run for nearly 50 years. It wants charities, community groups, churches and universities to play a central role in welcoming refugees.
Many community organisations, faith groups and universities in West and North West London already work with refugees and new arrivals, and the new routes give them a formal way to take part. Guidance for organisations that want to apply to be lead sponsors has been published on GOV.UK.