Publication alert: The UK’s ‘Safe and Legal’ Humanitarian Routes: from Colonial Ties to Privatising Protection in The Political Quarterly

In this new article published in The Political Quarterly, the MIGZEN team examines the UK’s ‘safe and legal (humanitarian) routes’ and their position in the post-Brexit migration regime. It considers also how these domestic provisions compare to those underwritten by international protections. The Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas)—HK BN(O)s—and Ukraine visa schemes are an area of focus which, combined, account for the vast majority of those arriving in the UK for the purposes of humanitarian protections since Brexit. Despite being formally presented under the same banner, the schemes have significant differences in terms of eligibility criteria, costs, rights and entitlements. Moreover, on closer inspection, while they share an overarching policy vision informed by foreign policy priorities, these new provisions are underpinned by different genealogies and policy logics.