Refugees Allowed To Live In Britain After 20 Years On RAF Base

Six refugee families who've been living an RAF station in Cyprus for more than 20 years have been granted permission to settle in the UK.  

The group originally came to the island on a fishing boat carrying 75 migrants from the Middle East and Africa.

The original destination was Italy but they washed ashore at RAF Akrotiri and were housed in former military accommodation at Richmond Village, near Dhekelia station.

Whilst at Dhekelia, the group applied for registration but their desire to settle in Britain was contested by the Home Office.

For years, demonstrations and protests would occasionally flare up, but the British government maintained that the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees did not apply to Sovereign Base Area land.

In 2014, they were denied permission to move to Britain, a decision overturned by the High Court and then upheld.

Some refugees moved on, others moved to Cyprus.

Now the Home Office has changed its mind and granted the group indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom.

“The Supreme Court judgment is clear that refugees who arrive on the SBAs on Cyprus have no automatic right to come to the UK,” the spokesperson for the department said.

“However, given the unique and highly unusual circumstances of these refugees and their children, we have made an exceptional decision to bring an end to this longstanding issue and enable them to leave Dhekelia immediately and settle in the UK.”