Safe and Secure Routes for Refugees
On 25 March 2025, PCS and Care4Calais launched a new report to lobby politicians to provide a humanitarian alternative to small boats crossings.
‘Safe and Secure Routes: Refugee Visa-to-Travel Proposal’ argues for the introduction of a Ukrainian-style visa system that would not only prevent deaths in the Channel but go some way towards destroying smuggling gangs overnight.
Care4Calais, a volunteer-run refugee charity working with refugees in the UK, France and Belgium, has come together with PCS to propose an alternative vision of our asylum system – one which prioritises saving lives and protects the interests of our members in the Border Force.
It builds on our previous campaigns opposing the Conversative government’s inhumane immigration policies, whether that’s forcing them to withdraw plans to order Border Force staff to turn back boats in the channel or getting involved in a legal challenge to see off the Rwanda policy.
Our members in the Border Force who work in the Channel and process asylum claims tell us the current system isn’t fit for purpose. People are forced into taking risks by attempting to cross the Channel in small boats or onboard lorries.
They believe that the only way to reduce the heartbreaking waste of precious lives in the Channel is to provide safe and secure routes for those coming here seeking refuge. When safe routes exist, people use them.
As well as trialling a safe routes scheme that uses the Ukrainian Visa Scheme as its template, PCS wants:
- greater investment in the Home Office to ensure staff have the time, space and resources to operate properly
- visa-to-travel requests that are free from political pressure and interference
- reform of immigration centres so refugees are helped rather than punished and staff are able to provide better outcomes and a supportive environment