ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Britain and Iraq signed a new migration deal in London to accelerate the return of Iraqis with no legal right to remain in the UK, as part of efforts to deter small boat crossings and tighten border security, the Home Office said on Wednesday.
The “agreement aims to further deter small boat arrivals, while supporting the UK Government’s wider commitment to restore order to the asylum system and recognising the Government of Iraq’s significant work to provide reintegration support to those returned,” read a statement from the Home Office.
It follows a security agreement signed between Baghdad and London in late November to enhance cooperation over Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s border security to curb people smuggling and narcotics trade.
“In a demonstration that the UK-Iraq partnership has entered into a new era, discussions on the visit moved beyond security to include cooperation on regional security, Baghdad-Erbil relations, defence cooperation and a growing trade relationship,” the statement added.
The deal was signed in London by the UK’s Security Minister Dan Jarvis and Hazem al-Yousifi, the Iraqi foreign ministry’s undersecretary for legal affairs and multilateral relations.
“This visit reinforces the strength of the UK-Iraq partnership and demonstrates our government’s commitment to serious diplomacy that delivers real results,” Jarvis said. “We are building stronger relationships that benefit both our countries whilst tackling shared challenges like organized crime and irregular migration.”
The number of Iraqi nationals reaching the UK by small boat fell to 1,900 in the year ending March 2025, down from 2,600 the previous year, according to the statement, which it attributed to stronger international cooperation and efforts to curb irregular migration at its source through diplomacy.
The statement added that the “government is also expanding its ‘Deport First, Appeal Later’ scheme, nearly trebling from eight countries to 23, with foreign nationals now expected to be deported to their home countries before they can appeal against that decision, increasing the UK’s ability to remove foreign criminals at the earliest opportunity, and easing pressure on the detention and prison estate.”
Every year, tens of thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region seek to escape endless crises of lack of employment, political instability, and corruption by joining thousands of others from scores of countries taking perilous routes to Europe. The UK is a popular destination for many people, but crossing the English Channel is dangerous and sometimes deadly.
Kurdish criminal groups control the increasingly lucrative cross-Channel migration routes, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which said in its 2023 assessment that the groups are mainly based in northern Europe.
London and Baghdad are also set to significantly expand their trade relationship following the signing of a “historic” trade package worth £12.3 billion (approximately $16.6 billion) in January, which is expected to substantially boost their current trade volume of £1.1 billion (around $1.5 billion), a senior trade official at the British Embassy in Baghdad told Rudaw earlier this week.
The UK also announced the launch of what it described as the world’s first sanctions regime in July, specifically aimed at smuggling gangs and their facilitators.
