Former UK cabinet minister David Davis said on Monday that asylum seekers from safe countries like Albania were "paralysing the whole system" when those applicants don't need safe resettlement.
Albanians are the largest national group of migrants presently entering the UK and women from there are often approved for asylum ― 86 per cent of successful adult asylum seekers from the Balkan state are women.
Men from Albania are much less likely to have their claims accepted. They make up the remaining 14 per cent of the claims accepted, despite many more males arriving in the UK from the country.
More than 7,700 Albanian asylum seekers have applied for permission to remain in the UK, compared with only up to 20 applications in EU states, the latest data reveals.
Why are Albanians the biggest group in the asylum system?
The increase in Albanian asylum applicants is greater than for other nationalities. In the first half of 2022, Albanians made up 16 per cent of all asylum applicants ― from 7 per cent in 2018.
Dan O’Mahoney, the government’s Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, recently told the UK's Home Affairs Committee that smugglers had made it easier to cross the Channel and that many Albanian men were operating in criminal gangs.
“There is little evidence in the public domain to explain why Albanians are seeking asylum in the UK in greater numbers at this particular point in time,” he said.
In a report this week, think-tank the Migration Observatory said that migration flows are hard to forecast and asylum migration especially.
“A wide range of factors influence asylum numbers, including geopolitical events, information flows and networks,” its report said.
“Academic research has typically suggested that policy is not the major cause of changes in asylum applications. But the rise in Albanian asylum seekers to the UK is thus relatively unusual when compared against the experience of EU member states.”
From 2017 to 2021, the number of Albanian asylum applicants increased from about 1,900 to more than 5,100.
The Migration Observatory predicts numbers are expected to be higher again this year as the latest data for the first half of 2022 revealed that more than 4,700 Albanian citizens have already applied for asylum so far.
Do UK trafficking laws affect the outcome of claims?
In the year to June, 86 per cent of the Albanians granted approval to remain in the UK were women.
Over the past two years the share of Albanian asylum applicants who are men has increased, from 70 per cent in the second quarter of 2019 to 91 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
Only one in eight asylum claims by Albanian men is granted, a vastly lower figure than a report by the Oxford-based Migration Observatory suggested, meaning UK panels are favouring women because of fears they have been trafficked.
“Many Albanian asylum applicants are thought to be victims of trafficking,” it said.
“A recent article by the immigration lawyer Irene Tsherit argues that applications from Albanian applicants are often granted on the basis that they have been trafficked, and that UK asylum decision-makers have typically been much more likely to accept female than male trafficking victims.”
Do all Albanians arrive by boat?
Albanians have been the biggest nationality arriving in the UK by small boat this year, Home Office figures reveal.
They accounted for 13,650 asylum applications in the year to September. Half of those claims originated from small boat arrivals.
Last year, 72,000 applications for asylum were made by Albanians.
More than 40,000 asylum seekers, of all nationalities, have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats so far this year. Of these, 11,000 were Albanians.
Last year, only 800 Albanians arrived by boat.
“A significant proportion of Albanians in the UK are likely to have arrived here illegally,” said National Crime Agency deputy director Andrea Wilson, who leads its work on threats from Channel crossings and western Balkan crime groups.
“Currently we have more than 70 live operations into organised immigration crime and a significant proportion of those are into Albanian organised crime groups.
“They are one of the top nationalities coming here illegally, both through clandestine methods and on small boats.”
Other methods being used by Albanians to enter the UK include hiding in the back of lorries.
What happens to Albanian men who apply for asylum?
Albanians crossing the Channel to the UK this year are said to have predominantly been men.
The 11,000 arrivals to the UK represents up to 2 per cent of the entire adult male population of Albania [aged 20 to 40], according to Mr O’Mahoney.
Mr O’Mahoney claims many male applicants claimed they were victims of modern slavery, but fears some were “deliberately gaming the system”.
He has warned that some men are involved in organised crime groups.
The UK government has described Albania as a 'safe and prosperous country' and says that many Albanians who claim asylum in the UK are economic migrants whose asylum claims are 'spurious'.
Questions have been asked over how Albanians are being coached while in their home country on what to say and do if they are detained in the UK.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama previously accused Britain of carrying out a “calculated attack” on his country by blaming it for the increase in Channel crossings and reiterated claims it is being used as a scapegoat for failed immigration policies.
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● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key facilities
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Company profile: buybackbazaar.com
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Started: January 2018
Founder(s): Pishu Ganglani and Ricky Husaini
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech, micro finance
Initial investment: $1 million
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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