21 January 2025
Prof. Louise Ryan, Prof. María López and PhD student Alessia Dalceggio presented a paper entitled ‘“It’s completely artificial, false distinction”: Afghans arriving in the UK through different routes’ at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Global.
Thousands of Afghans arrive in the UK each year through a variety of routes. For some, this means resettlement and support through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), but for those who arrive irregularly on small boats, the prospects are very different.
In their presentation, Louise Ryan, María López and Alessia Dalceggio draw on their ongoing longitudinal research with recently arrived Afghans (López and Ryan, 2023; Ryan, López and Dalceggio, 2024) to explore how immigration rules and policy makers create different categories that construct migrants who arrive from the same country and at the same time in very different ways. Their research on Afghans, specifically those who arrived in the UK following the evacuation of Kabul airport in August 2021, shows that the government’s ad hoc welcome plan creates an artificial distinction that generates different categories of migrants and reinforces the notion of ‘deserving versus undeserving’. This allows the government to present itself as humanitarian, ‘rescuing’ people from Afghanistan and protecting them from traffickers, while maintaining its commitment to a hostile immigration environment.
In their presentation, Louise, María and Alessia argued that despite the government’s public commitment to a ‘warm welcome’ for Afghans, the wider context of the hostile environment continues to complicate and, in some ways, undermine the aims of Afghan resettlement policies. Drawing on rich case studies, they show how Afghans in the UK navigate these categories and attempt to meet their needs.
Louise, María and Alessia are currently developing a 24-month evaluation of the resettlement schemes for Afghan refugee families in the London Borough of Islington. This project allows the research team to track Islington Council’s support for this group and the progress and changes of the Afghans over the course of the project, with clear potential to influence the Borough’s resettlement strategy. With colleagues from University College London and Middlesex University, Louise and María are also heavily involved in a Nuffield Foundation project investigating resettlement schemes for Afghans across England.
Image credit: David McKelvey via Flickr
