Petition · past parliament
Grant Right to Work for Asylum Seekers waiting 3+years for Home Office decision
Closed
50 signatures
What the petition asks
For more than a decade, the UK’s policies to restrict asylum seekers’ rights to work in the UK have attracted criticism from NGOs, trade unions, churches and some Parliamentarians, amongst others.
Calls for change have tended to focus on:
Calls for change have tended to focus on:
Advantages of extending asylum seekers’ rights to work include that it would:
1. Benefit the UK economy and reduce the costs to the taxpayer of supporting asylum seekers
2. Alleviate some of the difficulties that asylum seekers can face during the asylum determination process, such as social and economic exclusion, de-skilling, low self- esteem and poor mental health, and improve asylum seekers’ integration and employment prospects in the event of a positive asylum decision
3. Reduce asylum seekers’ vulnerability to exploitation through working illegally
1. Benefit the UK economy and reduce the costs to the taxpayer of supporting asylum seekers
2. Alleviate some of the difficulties that asylum seekers can face during the asylum determination process, such as social and economic exclusion, de-skilling, low self- esteem and poor mental health, and improve asylum seekers’ integration and employment prospects in the event of a positive asylum decision
3. Reduce asylum seekers’ vulnerability to exploitation through working illegally
Timeline
| 1 Feb 2017 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 2 May 2017 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
50
Status
Closed
Opened
1 Feb 2017
Closed
2 May 2017
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.