Petition calls on government to retain five-year refugee settlement route and speed up Syrian asylum decisions

A new petition on the UK parliament’s official website is calling on the government to retain the five-year route to indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for recognised refugees, while providing additional resources to speed up asylum and settlement decisions involving Syrians.

The petition comes amid continuing delays affecting large numbers of Syrian cases, after the Home Office suspended decisions for several months following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and against the backdrop of wider changes to the UK’s refugee protection system.

The petition was created by Amr Moheb Ellawaty and published on 19 August 2026. It had received 225 signatures at the time of publication and will remain open until 19 February 2027.

Petitions published on parliament’s website require 10,000 signatures to receive a government response. Those reaching 100,000 signatures are considered for debate in parliament.

What is the petition calling for?

The petition urges the government to preserve the existing route allowing recognised refugees to qualify for permanent settlement after five years.

It argues that replacing the system with repeated grants of temporary leave could prolong uncertainty, make integration more difficult and create additional administrative burdens for both refugees and the Home Office.

In the case of Syrians, it calls for additional resources to speed up the processing of asylum and settlement applications, saying lengthy delays have left many applicants in prolonged uncertainty.

It also urges the government to ensure that decisions about whether individual Syrian applicants can safely return are based on their personal circumstances and protection needs, rather than solely on a general assessment of conditions in Syria.

Why have Syrian applications been delayed?

The Home Office suspended asylum interviews and decisions for Syrians in December 2024 after major political developments in Syria, saying the rapidly changing situation made it difficult to carry out reliable assessments of the risks applicants might face if returned.

The suspension also affected decisions on Settlement Protection applications submitted by Syrians who had already completed the qualifying period required to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

Decision-making resumed in July 2025, but the pause left a substantial backlog.

In May 2026, the Home Office told parliament that about 3,500 Syrian Settlement Protection cases remained outstanding. It said some applications required further evidence or interviews to establish whether the individuals concerned continued to need protection.

Waiting times have in some cases become exceptionally long. In April, the Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper raised in parliament the case of a Syrian national who had been waiting 30 months for a decision on permanent settlement.

Government guidance says applicants seeking ILR through the protection route would normally expect a decision within six months, although more complex cases can take longer where further evidence or interviews are required.

What changed under the five-year route?

The petition follows changes to the UK’s refugee protection system that took effect in March 2026.

Under the new arrangements, most people making new asylum claims and subsequently granted protection receive an initial period of leave lasting 30 months rather than five years, after which their continuing need for protection may be reassessed.

Under the government’s proposed “Core Protection” model, the starting point for refugees seeking permanent settlement would move from five years to 20 years.

Some refugees may, however, be able to move into other immigration routes, including work or study pathways, which could allow them to qualify for settlement sooner.

The changes do not apply retrospectively to people granted five years of protection as a result of asylum or protection claims made on or before 1 March 2026. They remain eligible to apply for permanent settlement under the five-year route that applied to them.

A previous petition calling for the five-year settlement route to be retained attracted 53,155 signatures before it closed in June 2026.

The government rejected that petition’s central demand, saying it intended to proceed with a new model in which 20 years would become the starting point for settlement, while allowing some people to qualify earlier through alternative immigration routes.

The new petition therefore brings together two related concerns: opposition to replacing the five-year route with a system under which the main path to permanent settlement could become considerably longer, and demands for faster decisions for Syrians who remain caught in lengthy Home Office backlogs.

The petition can be viewed and signed on the UK parliament website.