Right to work for asylum seekers

UKBA has laid Statement of Changes CM7929 to give effect (or, at least, limited effect) to the judgment of the Supreme Court in ZO (Somalia) [2010] UKSC 36.

This was the case in which the Court held that an asylum claim is still an asylum claim for the purposes of the Reception Directive whether it is an initial claim or a subsequent claim. One of the consequences of this interpretation is that where UKBA fail to make a decision on a subsequent claim for asylum (usually called fresh claims, see this earlier post for some pointers on this subject) for 12 months or more, the applicant for asylum must be give access to the labour market, subject to some potential conditions.

Well, the conditions have been announced and the only jobs for which asylum seekers kept waiting for 12 months or more will be able to apply are those on the shortage occupation list maintained by UKBA, usually for the purposes of Tier 2 (general) applications in the Points Based System. This mainly consists of doctors, nurses and engineers but still includes ballet dancers, I see. Meteorologists are no longer required, apparently.

New paragraph 360 also states that UKBA will only consider applications for permission to work where the asylum claimant has not contributed to the delay in reaching a decision. No further meaning or explanation is provided here. In the vast majority of cases the delay is entirely caused by UKBA sitting on such cases for sometimes years on end, so this is a bit rich.

Self employment or setting up a business are both prohibited.