COUNTRIES that refuse to take back illegal migrants from Britain will face Trump-style visa bans, the Home Secretary will announce.
Shabana Mahmood will today name the first states to be targeted as part of a sweeping package to dramatically increase deportations.
Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo will be issued with formal warnings after refusing to take back more than 4,000 illegal migrants and foreign offenders.
It comes as the Home Secretary faces growing unease among MPs and senior party figures over her immigration crackdown due to be announced today.
Ms Mahmood wrote to their embassies on Thursday, telling diplomats they have one month to start co-operating.
Officials say the trio are the most “obstructive” nations on returns and the bans are designed as an “opening salvo” to show Britain means business.
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Under the sliding-scale system, diplomats and VIPs will first lose fast-track visa access.
If there is still no progress, priority services will be removed entirely and they will be forced to queue with ordinary applicants.
The final stage will be a total visa ban on all citizens, from tourists to senior politicians.
Other resistant countries could face the same treatment over the coming year.
Ms Mahmood told The Times: “In Britain, we play by the rules. When I said there would be penalties for countries that do not take back criminals and illegal immigrants, I meant it.
“My message to foreign governments today is clear: accept the return of your citizens or lose the privilege of entering our country.”
The measures mirror those used by Donald Trump during his first term in the White House against African and East Asian nations.
Ms Mahmood is said to have been inspired by Trump’s homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, who impressed her with a fearsome focus on removals.
What will the Home Secretary announce today?
- Refugee status no longer permanent
Refugees will have to reapply every 2.5 years to stay in Britain.
If their home country is judged safe, they can be sent back.
System based on Denmark’s tougher model. - Much longer wait for citizenship
Current five-year protection cut to 30 months.
Illegal arrivals could face a 20-year wait before applying for settlement.
Refugee status reviewed regularly and can be revoked. - Ukrainians may also have to return
Once the war ends, most Ukrainians will be expected to go home, the Home Secretary said. - No more automatic benefits
Legal duty to give housing and cash support to asylum seekers will be scrapped.
Support could be removed if someone breaks the law, ignores removal orders or works illegally.
Benefits to be focused on those contributing to the UK. - AI age checks
Artificial intelligence will be used to check if people claiming to be children are under 18.
Ministers say wrong age decisions put kids at risk; critics warn the tech could misclassify children. - New “safe and legal” routes
New capped schemes allowing people to be sponsored, similar to Homes for Ukraine.
Those who come legally will have a faster, easier route to citizenship.
Skilled refugees can come for work, building on existing pilot schemes. - Major legal crackdown
Courts told to put public safety first.
Article 3 protections (torture/inhuman treatment) and Article 8 (family life) will be reinterpreted to help remove criminals.
“Immediate family” will be narrowed to parent/child only.
Modern Slavery laws tightened to stop misuess. - Confiscation system
Illegal migrants will have jewellery, watches and even cars seized to pay for their own asylum costs
The restrictions are part of what ministers are calling the biggest overhaul of the asylum system since WWII.
The Home Secretary will set out all of the measures in a statement to MPs later today.
Illegal migrants will be limited to one single appeal, ending what Ms Mahmood calls “endless legal game-playing”.
Judges will be told to put public safety first, with Article 8 family-life claims of the European Convention on Human Rights restricted to immediate family only.
Article 3 rules on “inhuman treatment” will be tightened with allies to stop criminals citing poor prison conditions overseas to dodge removal.
Refugee status will become temporary, reviewed every 30 months, with people sent home once their country is safe.
And those arriving illegally will face a 20-year wait before applying for permanent settlement and could lose support if they refuse to work.
New legal routes will open with capped community-sponsored visas and faster citizenship for those who arrive lawfully.
And The Sun today revealed the Home Secretary will go even further – by seizing illegal migrants’ jewellery and valuables to help pay their accommodation bills.
Under the tough new confiscation scheme, expensive watches, chains and necklaces will be taken and sold, while high-value items like cars and e-bikes will also be seized.
Sentimental items such as wedding rings will be spared, but ministers say the move will slash costs and deter people from treating the UK as a soft touch.
Ms Mahmood’s plans have led to significant unease among MPs, senior Labour aides and ministers, with the Guardian reporting least one is on resignation watch.
Two said they were particularly worried about the plans to ramp up deportations of refugee families, including those with children.
Labour MP for Folkestone Tony Vaughan last night urged ministers to “think again”.
He wrote on X: “The Prime Minister said in September that we are at a fork in the road.
“These asylum proposals suggest we have taken the wrong turning.
“The idea that recognised refugees need to be deported is wrong.
“We absolutely need immigration controls.
“And where those controls decide to grant asylum, we should welcome and integrate, not create perpetual limbo and alienation.
“The rhetoric around these reforms encourages the same culture of divisiveness that sees racism and abuse growing in our communities.”
Veteran Labour MP and former shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, also wrote: “Tony Vaughan is one of the new MPs elected for Labour last year and in his contributions to Commons debates has displayed a considered approach to issues.
“He’s certainly not what the media would call a ‘usual suspect’. I suspect he is reflecting here what many in the [Parliamentary Labour Party] feel.”
Ms Mahmood told the BBC yesterday: “I really reject this idea that dealing with this problem is somehow engaging in far-right talking points.
“I am the child of migrants myself, my parents came to this country lawfully in the late 60s, and in the 70s.
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“People can see huge pressure in their communities and they can also see a system that is broken, and where people are able to flout the rules, abuse the system and get away with it.
“I know that I have to persuade people across the country, not just in Parliament, but across the country, that these are reforms that can work.”