The UK government wants to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the policy has faced a series of legal challenges.
On Wednesday the UK Supreme Court will deliver its verdict on whether the plan is lawful.
What is the Rwanda asylum plan?
The five-year trial – announced in April 2022 – would see some asylum seekers sent to Rwanda to claim asylum there.
Under the plan, they may be granted refugee status to stay in Rwanda. If not, they could apply to settle there on other grounds, or seek asylum in another “safe third country”.
No asylum seeker has actually been sent to Rwanda. The first flight was scheduled to go in June 2022, but was cancelled after legal challenges.
The government says the policy will deter people arriving in the UK through “illegal, dangerous or unnecessary methods”, such as on small boats which cross the English Channel.
More than 45,700 people used this route to come to the UK in 2022, the highest figure since records began.
As of 12 November, the number of small boat crossings in 2023 was a third lower than at the same point the year before, however it is not possible to say if the drop is the result of government migration policies.
In October, shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said the weather had been partly responsible for the fall in numbers, claiming that 2023 was “the wettest summer since 1912”.
Is Rwanda safe and is the scheme legal?
The UK Supreme Court began its hearing to determine the fate of the Rwanda scheme in October, with a decision expected on Wednesday.
The government took the issue to the UK Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal overturned an earlier High Court ruling that the Rwanda plan was lawful.
The Court of Appeal judges ruled that the east African nation was not safe because of the risk that some claimants could be sent back to their home countries, where they might face persecution.
The ruling also said that the Rwanda policy breaches part of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which prohibits torture and inhuman treatment.
The judges said their decision did not imply a view about the “political merits” of the policy.
How many people could be sent to Rwanda?
It is unclear exactly how many asylum seekers could be sent to Rwanda.
The government previously said “anyone entering the UK illegally” after 1 January 2022 could be sent, with no limit on numbers.
Under the deal, Rwanda can also ask the UK to take in some of its most vulnerable refugees.
How much would the plan cost?
So far the UK has paid the Rwandan government £140m, but it has not provided an overall cost.
An economic-impact assessment prepared for the government’s Illegal Migration Bill estimated that removing each individual to a third country, such as Rwanda, would cost £63,000 more than keeping them in the UK.
That figure is the difference between the total cost of removing an individual – estimated to be £169,000 – and the £106,000 spent on housing support if they remain in the UK.
The £169,000 total includes a payment to the third country of around £105,000 per person, as well as £22,000 for flights.
The Home Office said no cost would be incurred if the policy deterred an individual from entering the UK illegally.
But it said it was “uncertain” how many people would be deterred because the policy was “novel and untested”.
The UK’s asylum system costs £3bn a year. About £8m a day is spent on hotel accommodation for refugees and asylum seekers.
Critics say the daily cost is so high because of the time taken to decide on applications, and a ban on asylum seekers working while waiting for confirmation of their status.