The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers in a Rwanda-style scheme, according to documents seen by Sky News.
This could have seen people sent from the UK to a country the government advises against all travel to.
The two countries already have a returns agreement - but only for people who are from Iraq.
Politics live: Follow the latest updates here
According to leaked correspondence between high-ranking officials, the Iraqi returns commitments were made with a "request for discretion" and no publicity.
The country was willing to move forward but did not want a formal or public agreement.
The current travel advice to Iraq on the Foreign Office website simply advises against "all travel to parts of Iraq". However, according to the document, negotiations were fairly advanced and described in one table as "good recent progress with Iraq".
More on Home Office
Sex offender allowed to stay in UK - as more than half of appeals against asylum decisions successful
Hull: The city where hundreds of failed asylum seekers go 'under the radar'
Home Office granted 275 care worker sponsorship visas after 'forged' application
Other government aims included enhancing cooperation with the Iranian Embassy in order to enhance returns arrangements for migrants and potential asylum seekers.
Be the first to get Breaking News Install the Sky News app for free
Returns agreements are also in the works for Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to documents about work undertaken by the Home Office and Foreign Office that relates to countries with the highest number of nationals arriving to the UK by small boats.
Advertisem*nt
In a tranche of internal government documents seen by Sky News, even from the earliest stage of the Rwanda policy, Downing Street advisers knew there were serious problems with their proposals.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:57
There are even private admissions that many people arriving here on small boats did so without the assistance of criminal gangs - despite their communications strategy.
Comparisons were also made to Australia's response - to what Downing Street officials understood to be a comparable "smaller problem" than in the UK and admitted it had cost billions of Australian dollars in order for their returns processes to be fully operational.
Read more: Man, 38, arrested in connection with small boat crossings Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working
In one document submitted to the Home Office, some of the highest-ranking officials at the time wrote that their guidance was to be "prepared to pay over the odds" to get the policy up and running. And that the initial offer from Rwanda was a "modest sum".
Follow Sky News on WhatsApp
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Whitehall's official spending watchdog has priced the cost of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda at £1.8m per person for the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali.
It also disclosed that since April 2022 the Home Office has paid £220m into Rwanda's economic transformation and integration fund, which is designed to support economic growth in Rwanda, and will continue to make payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda.
It will also pay further amounts of £50m over the next year and an additional £50m the following year.
Be the first to get Breaking News Install the Sky News app for free
Spreaker This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
A government source said: "The Home Office is spending millions every day accommodating migrants in hotels - that's not right or fair. We're taking action to put an end to this costly and dangerous cycle. Doing nothing is not a free option - we must act if we want to stop the boats and save lives.
"The UK is continuing to work with a range of international partners to tackle global illegal migration challenges. Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next nine to eleven weeks."
The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers in a Rwanda-style scheme, according to documents seen by Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast.
What is the Rwanda asylum plan? In April 2022, the government said that any asylum seeker entering the UK "illegally" after 1 January 2022, from a safe country such as France, could be sent to Rwanda.
After the 2003 U.S. invasion and again during the heightened violence brought on by Islamic State terror attacks, especially between 2014-2017, millions of Iraqis were displaced. Engineers, artists, lawyers, academics, doctors, and other professionals were among the first to escape the war.
Iraq generously hosts around 300,000 refugees and asylum seekers, over 90% of whom live in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I). There are over 260,000 Syrians, predominantly Kurdish, in addition to refugees and asylum seekers from Iran, Türkiye, the State of Palestine, and other countries.
There were approximately 20 thousand Iraqi nationals residing in the United Kingdom in 2021, a decrease from the 35 thousand Iraqi nationals residing in the United Kingdom in 2008. The highest number of Iraqi nationals residing in the United Kingdom was 40 thousand in 2014 and 2018.
Rwanda was former French colony and has historic association with Francophone countries. But the country decided to join the British Commonwealth in 2009.
Iraqi special immigrants are eligible for the same resettlement assistance, entitlement programs, and other benefits as refugees admitted under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, for a period of up to eight (8) months after being admitted to the United States.
Where do asylum seekers in the U.S. come from? A substantial number of asylum seekers are fleeing violence, persecution and natural disasters like in Haiti and northern Central America. Asylum seekers also come from Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil, India, Eritrea, Ghana, Ethiopia and Cameroon.
Refugees - major hosting countries worldwide as of 2023
As of mid-2023, Iran was the largest refugee-hosting country in the world. According to data available by the The UN Refugee Agency there were around 3.4 million refugees in Iran. Turkey was second with around 3.3 million.
As a signatory to the 1967 Protocol, and through U.S. immigration law, the United States has legal obligations to provide protection to those who qualify as refugees. The Refugee Act established two paths to obtain refugee status—either from abroad as a resettled refugee or in the United States as an asylum seeker.
Iraqi refugees have mainly fled into urban centers across region, rather than in refugee camps. There are roughly 2 million Iraqi refugees living in countries neighboring Iraq and 95% of them still live in the Middle East - although other nations in Europe have begun to accept Iraqi refugees.
Under the UK-Rwanda Treaty, Rwanda has strengthened its end-to-end asylum system through its own new legislation and created a specialist asylum appeals tribunal to consider individual appeals against any refused claims.
Why is the UK Government sending asylum seekers to Rwanda and who does it apply to? The UK Government has said that the policy aims to tackle and deter the business model of people smuggling and 'small boat crossings'.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Rwanda policy was unlawful because Rwanda was not a safe country to which asylum seekers could be removed. This is primarily because of inadequacies in Rwanda's asylum system, which mean that the Rwandan authorities were not able to provide accurate and fair asylum decisions.
On 15 November 2023, the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) unanimously found the government's intended policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful. The UKSC did not find the policy of removing asylum-seekers to a third country unlawful, only that Rwanda is not currently a safe country to do so.
Introduction: My name is Dan Stracke, I am a homely, gleaming, glamorous, inquisitive, homely, gorgeous, light person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
0:57 
