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The Illegal Migration Act and children and young people seeking asylum

Version 2 : 21 August 2024.

The Illegal Migration Act is a law introduced in 2023 that would change how the asylum system works in the UK if it is applied. It relates mainly to whether people who arrived in the UK on or after a certain date will be granted asylum, other leave to remain in the UK, or British citizenship. 

The Government introduced a new regulation, which applies from 24 July 2024, which puts the Illegal Migration Act on hold indefinitely. ‘This means that children and young people who arrived in the UK on or after 7th March 2023 are now able to have their asylum claims processed in the UK, unless their application is inadmissible for some other reason. 

It is possible that the Government could in future change its approach and apply part or all of the Illegal Migration Act, but we hope that won’t happen and will update this briefing if it does.’

Children and young people seeking asylum in the UK can seek assistance and information through the sites listed below:  

  • Refugee Council (for unaccompanied children seeking asylum) 
  • Right to Remain’s Lawyers Toolkit includes helpful links and advice on what to look for when searching for a legal adviser.  
  • Law Centres Network 
  • Citizens Advice 
  • Barnardo’s offer mental health and other support for children and adults seeking asylum.  
  • ECPAT UK offers one-to-one mentoring, counselling, mental health support and other support to young survivors and victims of trafficking.  
  • To find other services and support in your local area, you can search here. 

You can also contact other migrant and refugee charities for help, but it’s important that the advice you get on your situation comes from a qualified expert and is correct – please take care to only get legal advice from a qualified advisor at a regulated organisation.  

This information sheet was updated on 21 August 2024 and is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of this date.

Please note ongoing changes might mean this information sheet is out of date at the time of reading it. We will do our best to update the information and share an up-to-date version if there are more changes to relevant laws or policies. 

Authors

This information sheet was co-created by the following organisations:

And a big thank you to the Youth Advisory Group at ECPAT UK and young people from SLRA for their contributions and feedback.

The previous version of this page is available for historical reference at archive.org

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