Migrants allowed to be joined by more than 50 relatives, Home Office figures show
More than 50 relatives of asylum seekers are joining them every day in Britain, according to reports.
Home Office figures, first cited by The Sun, show that the number of relatives coming to the UK has increased to 19,154 in the space of a single year.
The statistics relate to those who can settle here after family members' asylum claims are granted.
Immigration laws allow those who are granted asylum, including many refugees who cross the Channel in small boats, to make a claim to let relatives travel legally to the UK.
Refugees from Syria, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran and Afghanistan make up the bulk of the arrivals.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, told the newspaper: 'There are huge cost implications at play here, all paid for by the public, who are seldom kept in the picture. And it doesn't end there.'
'Those granted asylum and joined by family members, will be housed if they have children under 18 who live with them.
'Add to this access to benefits, schooling, medical and dental care, and we can begin to grasp the frustration and anger felt by people waiting for social housing and in long NHS queues?'
The Home Office has been approached for comment.
A spokesman told The Sun: 'We have a long history of providing protection through various safe and legal routes for those in need.'
The Telegraph previously revealed how London is home to as many as 585,000 illegal migrants, equivalent to one in 12 of the city's population, according to a previously confidential report.
The new estimate has emerged in a study commissioned by Thames Water, obtained by this newspaper under freedom of information-style laws for the environment.
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