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Failed asylum seekers paid £36 million to start up businesses back in their own countries
Last updated at 14:04pm on 16th December 2007

A total of £36 million has been paid out to failed asylum seekers to enable them to set up businesses back in their own countries, it was reported today.

More than 23,000 migrants have received payments of up to £4,000 each under the Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme since it was set up in 1999.

It has enabled them to set up businesses from market stalls to clothes factories in countries as diverse as South Africa, China and Colombia.

A total of £36m of taxpayers money has been paid to failed asylum seekers to enable them to set up businesses back in their own countries

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The details were contained in documents from the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration, which administers the scheme on behalf of the UK Government.

The Home Office said that the programme - which is part-funded by the EU - offered good value for money compared to forcible returns, which cost £11,000 for each failed asylum seeker.

"Last year we removed more failed asylum seekers than ever before. We will not hesitate to use enforced returns, but when we can spare British taxpayers the £11,000 these each cost, we will," a spokesman said.

"Repatriation assistance isn't new and frees up money to hire more immigration officers."

However, the payments were condemned by shadow home secretary David Davis, who told The Sunday Telegraph: "Now the price of the Government's failure to secure our borders is all too clear.

"Given their inability to deport illegal immigrants, they have had to resort to bribing them to leave - with the taxpayer picking up the bill."

The disclosure comes as the Government is preparing next week to announce new curbs on foreign visitors from outside the European Union coming to Britain.

People who use the "sponsored family visits" to enable relatives from abroad to visit on temporary visas may have to put up a cash bond of up to £1,000, which will be forfeited if the relative does not leave when the visa expires.

Ordinary tourist visas could also be halved from six months to three.

David Davis has condemned the government over payments made to failed asylum seekers to set up businesses in their own countries
Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said that it was part of the "biggest shake-up of the immigration system in its history".

"Over the next 12 months, we'll see the biggest shake-up of the immigration system in its history. The final front, I believe, is foreign visitor routes where change is needed," he said.

Failed asylum seekers paid £36 million to start up businesses back in their own countries | the Daily Mail