UK applications under Ankara Agreement drop 78%; errors and deportation threats

According to UK Home Office data, the number of indefinite leave to remain applications accepted under the Ankara Agreement (ECAA) fell from 3,378 in January–June 2024 to just 745 in January–June 2025; The Guardian documented this 78% decline through the rejection letters it examined.

Among the stated grounds for rejection are conditions that do not exist in legislation: one applicant working as a window cleaner had their file rejected because their business lacked a website or social media account, despite no such requirement being set out in the rules. In the same file, the applicant was said to have submitted incomplete bank statements, but this claim was later found to be inaccurate. In another case, the department miscalculated the days the applicant had spent abroad, claiming the 180-day threshold in a 12-month period had been exceeded. According to lawyers, this tightening became pronounced from September 2024 onwards; a timing that coincides with just before Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined proposals to toughen conditions for indefinite leave to remain at the Labour Party conference.

One of the most striking cases involved a woman who received a cancer diagnosis while in Turkey during the Covid-19 pandemic. After the NHS restricted certain cancer treatments during the outbreak, she began treatment in Turkey. Her doctors informed her that relocating treatment to another country would pose serious medical risks. The Home Office rejected her application on the grounds that she had chosen to begin treatment in Turkey; she was told in October that she must leave the country with her three young children. Another woman was denied leave to remain after she was forced to visit her father in Turkey, who was in the terminal stages of Alzheimer's; the department did not classify these visits as unforeseen circumstances.

Tottenham MP and former Foreign Secretary David Lammy responded sharply to the situation. Lammy said that his constituents' lives had been turned upside down by a "sudden change" and that the rejection stories recalled the Windrush scandal. Lammy stated that the Home Office must "urgently revisit its review of lessons learned" and that the situation was "absolutely unacceptable."

Data obtained through freedom of information requests showed that administrative review (appeals) applications surged from 145 across 2024 to 395 by mid-August 2025. The Home Office, however, maintains that no rule changes have been made to how applications under the Ankara Agreement are assessed.