Asylum applicants are not generally allowed to do paid work. The limited exception is that they may apply to the Home Office to be given permission to enter employment when their asylum claim has been outstanding for a year since the date the claim was lodged.[1] The same applies when further submissions have been outstanding for a year, whether or not they have been recognised as a fresh claim.[2] Applications are very straightforward, they must be made in writing giving the applicant’s personal and contact details and a statement requesting permission to work.[3] There is no time limit for the Home Office to make a decision and this can take months.
If permission is granted it is limited to applying for vacancies in specified occupations. Until 26 March 2026 this was limited to shortage roles on Appendix Immigration Salary List, i.e. specialist trades and professions which are in short supply in the UK.[4] Following a legal challenge brought by two doctors,[5] people applying from 27 March 2026 who are granted permission to work can now work in roles on the longer list in Appendix Skilled Occupations of the immigration rules.[6] This is a longer list than previously, but the roles on this list are all considered to be highly skilled, at Regulated Qualifications Framework level 6 or above. Self-employment and setting up a business are prohibited.[7]
The lack of discretion in the policy allowing the Home Office to grant permission to take up employment not on the shortage occupation list in use before March 2026 was challenged successfully at the end of 2020. Two cases, one specifically relating to a refugee who was also a victim of trafficking[8] and a refugee who was not[9] successfully challenged the fact that discretion to grant such permission had never been used; therefore, the policy was declared unlawful. Revised policy guidance was published and includes provision for the application of discretion to be used, although it states that these grants are expected to be ‘rare’.[10]
A campaign was launched in 2018 to Lift the Ban[11] which refers to the above policy; the main campaign aims are for the government to reduce the waiting time to get permission to work to six months and to allow access to all vacancies, not those on the shortage occupation list.[12]
At the end of 2021 the Migration Advisory Committee, in its annual report, questioned the need for the policy restricting asylum applicants to the Shortage Occupation list.[13] No changes have been made to that policy, but the Shortage Occupation List[14] was replaced with the Immigration Salary List in 2024, and reduced the number of roles that asylum applicants were permitted to work in.[15] In July 2025 the government announced an intention to phase out the Immigration Salary List in 2026.[16] In the March statement of changes to the immigration rules, the main obstacle is that since these occupations are so narrowly defined, the chances that an asylum applicant will qualify are quite low. Other barriers are the fact that potential employers do not know how long the person will have the permission to work..
The asylum applicant’s residence status does not change as a result of obtaining permission to work. They remain on bail and subject to conditions which may include residing at an address that they give. There is no special access to re-training to enable access to the labour market. Any vocational training is subject to the conditions for education set out in the section on Access to Education.
[1] Immigration Rules, pt 11B, para 360.
[2] Supreme Court, ZO (Somalia) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 36.
[3] Home Office, ‘Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers: caseworker guidance’, 26 March 2026, available here.
[4] Immigration Rules, Appendix Immigration Salary List, available here.
[5] Garden Court Chambers, ‘Home Office agrees to change policy and permit asylum seekers to work as doctors, nurses, and other skilled professionals’, 20 March 2026, available here.
[6] Immigration Rules, pt 11B, para 360 and Appendix Skilled Occupations.
[7] Immigration Rules, pt 11B, para 360.
[8] High Court, LJ (Kosovo), R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 3487 (Admin) (18 December 2020), available here.
[9] Upper Tribunal, R(C6) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (asylum seekers’ permission to work) [2021] UKUT 94 (13 January 2021), available here.
[10] Home Office, ‘Permission to work and volunteering for asylum seekers: caseworker guidance’, 26 March 2026, available here.
[11] See: Refugee Action website, available here.
[12] Lift the ban coalition website, available here.
[13] Migration Advisory Committee, ‘Second annual report’, December 2021, available here.
[14] Archived version of Appendix Shortage Occupation List, available here.
[16] Home Office, ‘Explanatory memorandum to the statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 997’, 1 July 2025, available here.