SYRIAN refugees coming to Worcestershire will be given a five year visa – after which they will have to apply to the Home Office if they wish to remain in the UK.
The news was broken at a top level meeting in Birmingham hosted by Richard Harrington MP Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Home Office, with responsibility for refugee,s attended by the leader Redditch borough council Councillor Bill Hartnett.
The meeting heard that there were already 1,000 refugees from the conflct in Syria in the UK, many in Scotland.
A further 1,000 places, of the 20,000 agreed by the Prime Minister, have already been pledged by local authorities in the West Midlands, including the 50 designated for Worcestershire.
“Checks are currently taking place on these refugees in the camps, including health assessments and biometric checks, to make sure there is a genuine case of need,” said Coun Harnett.
Under the terms reached by the Government, each refugee will be on a five year visa and will be able to start work right away.
Shortly before the five years are up, if the refugees are still in Britain, they will have to apply to the Home Office if they wish to stay.
“They have learnt lessons from the first wave and will be trying to place people from rural areas in a rural setting and city dwellers in a city,” said Coun Hartnett.
Redditch is expected to take two families as its share of the 50 agreed by Worcestershire County Council.
