The Home Office has published factsheets on the Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026, covering a new appeals body, changes to Article 8 human rights claims, a single protection status and charges for asylum support.
Key facts
- Who: People liable to removal or deportation, asylum and human rights claimants, and people receiving asylum support
- From: 8 October 2026 (publication date of the factsheets; the bill was introduced to Parliament on 30 June 2026)
- Source: Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026: factsheets
The Immigration and Asylum Bill was introduced to Parliament on 30 June 2026. The Home Office factsheets, published on 8 October 2026, explain the measures in the bill, why the government says they are needed and what impact it expects them to have. They deliver reforms announced in the Restoring Order and Control statement in November 2025.
A new appeals body. The bill would establish an Independent Immigration Appeals Authority. It would introduce a single appeal route in which claimants have to raise all relevant matters up front. An unsuccessful claimant could only seek permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on a point of law. A "claim notice" would require people liable to removal or deportation to submit information about any immigration or modern slavery claim they have. Making a claim outside the claim notice deadline would have implications for how decision making progresses.
Article 8. The bill would change how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect for family and private life) is applied. It would strengthen the public interest test and define family life in legislation as not normally extending beyond immediate family members. Article 8 family life claims from outside the UK would have to be made by a UK-based sponsor. For foreign national offenders, decision makers and courts would have to consider the public interest in every case. Deportation would be treated as in the public interest and always appropriate unless the individual impact is out of all proportion to the public interest. The factsheet says there are specific safeguards for particularly exceptional circumstances.
Core protection. Refugee status and humanitarian protection would be replaced by a single protection claim and status. The right to bring "upgrade appeals" would be removed. The bill would also give powers to vary entitlements in certain circumstances, such as for serious criminals.
Asylum support charges. Adults who have received support under sections 4 and 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 would be required to contribute once they are financially able. Children and victims of modern slavery would be exempt. Thresholds, repayment rates and other exemptions would be set in secondary legislation. The factsheet says thresholds will not be set at a level that may cause destitution.
Modern slavery. The bill would also reform the modern slavery framework, with amendments to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 largely applying to England and Wales.
Figures cited. The Home Office says around 156,000 appeals were outstanding in June 2026, 90,000 of them asylum appeals, with a mean wait of 65 weeks across all categories.
What this means for people facing removal, deportation or an asylum or human rights claim
The factsheets describe the government's proposals in a bill before Parliament. They set out a single appeal route in which claimants raise all relevant matters up front, and a claim notice with a deadline for submitting claims.
Anyone affected may wish to follow the bill's progress and take advice before any deadline they are given passes.
Sources
- Home Office, Immigration and Asylum Bill 2026: factsheets, published 8 October 2026