MP: More work required to help contractors get to safety
As the Chair of the British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group, John Baron MP has been advocating on behalf of the British Council contractors in Afghanistan. Seen as traitors by the Taliban, many of them have been living in hiding since the fall of Kabul in August 2021. The contractors are eligible to come to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, but only a tiny number have come to the UK under this scheme this year, and none at all in the first year of the scheme. Following a meeting with John, the Prime Minister oversaw a change in the guidance for the ACRS which allows applicants to continue their applications outside Afghanistan.
In the Chamber, John asked,
“I again commend the Prime Minister for his recent intervention to formally break the ACRS log-jam by allowing British Council contractors (and others) to continue their applications in the safety of a third country, thereby allowing them to leave Afghanistan at their own risk.”
“However, there are a significant number of approved contractors who remain in Afghanistan, unable to obtain or afford the necessary visa and paperwork to exit Afghanistan and enter a third country. Can the Minister inform the House how he is working with colleagues across Government to help remove these obstacles?”
The Minister thanked John for his contributions on this issue, and said that the Government was committed to helping Afghans to come to the UK.
Afterwards, John said,
“The Prime Minister deserves credit for his work to change the guidance to allow the contractors and other Afghans eligible under the ACRS to continue their applications outside Afghanistan, but visas and paperwork can be barriers to leaving Afghanistan and entering a third country. I am grateful to the Minister for his answer, but he did not address the fact that more work is required to support the contractors in their journey out of danger. I shall now be following this up.”
