Iraqi interpreters hoping to resettle in Britain are being warned that the number accepted will be strictly limited and many will be unable to enter the country before summer 2009. The criteria laid down in the letter sent to former Iraqi employees by the British Government sets out the hurdles to be cleared before they can be considered refugees. They are being offered a financial package or resettlement in Britain, but not both. Kim Howells, the Foreign Office Minister, is to discuss the matter with concerned MPs today.

The Times disclosed yesterday that 200 out of 600 former Iraqi employees had already been rejected, and more than half of the 200 interpreters on the list had been turned away after failing to meet the eligibility criterion of 12 months’ “continuous” service.

David Lidington, a Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, said: “I think the Government is being niggardly. The bottom line is that, if an individual’s life is in danger because he worked for the British Armed Forces in Iraq, there shouldn’t be an arbitrary quota. We owe these people a moral duty.”

A 29-year-old interpreter who has been told that he is eligible for assistance – either financial or an application for resettlement – said: “The Government is trying to make the number of interpreters accepted for asylum as low as possible. It has to take into consideration our suffering. It should reform its position again and make it easier. It should accept all the interpreters and make their asylum procedure take just one or two months. If it is difficult to take all the interpreters to the United Kingdom then it should send them to a third country.”

Two routes to resettlement in Britain have been offered: former Iraqi interpreters can apply to the Home Office’s Gateway scheme for refugees but they have to start the process in a third country; current Iraqi employees can apply for “indefinite leave” in Britain.

The Home Office said that under the Gateway scheme, a quota of 500 Iraqis had been fixed for next year. But that figure includes dependants, listed in the official letter to applicants as spouse or civil partner, children under the age of 18, mother or grandmother who is a widow aged at least 65, father or grandfather who is a widower aged 65 or over, and parents or grandparents travelling together of whom at least one is 65 or over.

Other relatives can also be considered under exceptional circumstances. A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that he was unaware of any quota for those still serving in Iraq who wanted to apply for “indefinite leave” status.

Britain has announced that it will hand control of security in Basra to the Iraqi authorities on Sunday. Yesterday a triple car bombing left about 40 people dead in the city of al-Amarah in Maysan, another southern province once under British control.

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