Asylum seekers illegally entering the UK on small boats are trying to double their welfare benefits by lodging claims in both Britain and Ireland, it has emerged. Afghan migrant Zafar made the perilous journey across the Channel from France last month, applying for asylum status on June 16. However, less than a month later, he boarded a flight from Manchester to Belfast, despite being told that he could not leave the country until his claim had been processed.
Zafar was detained by Irish immigration officials while travelling on the M1 between Belfast and Dublin, who reportedly believe he had planned to lodge an additional application for welfare benefits in Ireland. He was returned to the UK on the same day as part of the Garda National Immigration Bureau’s (GNIB) ‘Operation Sonnet’, aimed at preventing asylum seekers from travelling via Britain across the Irish border.
“He was most likely going to claim asylum at the International Protection Office in Dublin,” a GNIB officer told The Times, adding that it was one of many cases of a migrant trying to criss-cross back and forth the border to collect double their benefit allowance.
Zafar was reportedly one of seven men stopped by Irish authorities on the same day, with a total of 443 migrants returned to Britain as part of Operation Sonnet since the beginning of 2024.
Another asylum seeker named Hassan was singled out by officials when he was spotted trying to enter Ireland with three mobile phones.
It emerged that he had successfully applied for asylum status in Britain as a Pakistani, despite telling GNIB officers that he was from Afghanistan. An investigation also found that Hassan had been working in the UK and travelling to Ireland weekly to collect welfare money.
“He had nothing to prove that he was an Afghan asylum seeker here,” one officer said. “He wouldn’t open his phone to prove who he was and kept putting in the wrong number.
“We said to him, ‘Look, you’re going back to the UK anyway, we just need to send you back with your correct identity.’ He did open a phone and he had photographs of his Pakistani passport.”
“We’ve passed that information on to the Department of Social Protection and he’ll be cut off,” another officer added. “Yesterday, they cut off 15 people because of this checkpoint.”
The UK and Ireland agreed a deal in 2019 to permit the immediate return of asylum seekers in the Common Travel Area (CTA), a free travel zone established between the two countries in 1922.
Of more than 6,000 asylum applications lodged in Dublin in June, officials estimate that 90% travelled from Northern Ireland after arriving in Britain.
“Ths Government is committed to taking down the criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people in order to make quick cash, and we work closely with Ireland to support them on border security,” the Home Office said.
“This includes a joint commitment to protect the CTA from abuse, which is delivered through joint work to identify and tackle illegal migration trends as they emerge.”
A spokesperson for the GNIB added: “There is extensive engagement, and cooperation at all levels between officials in the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and Home Office counterparts, as well as significant operational cooperation between the Gardaí, UK Border Force, UK policing services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland in relation to both immigration and criminal matters.
“This strong practical engagement and cooperation serves the mutual interests of both Ireland and the UK, and will continue.”