Can’t Stay. Can’t Go. Refused asylum seekers who cannot be returned    7 >> Where a person has been living outside their country of nationality for a long time and they have lost their citizenship. or more for a travel document (Home Office 2016d). BID (2016) lists the following additional factors: 1.2 What happens to people who cannot be returned? >> Where a person is of mixed national parentage (e.g. Ghanaian and Nigerian, Ethiopian and Eritrean). >> Where a person has moved between two countries during their childhood. >> Where a person has dual citizenship. >> Where nationality has been revoked or renounced. 1.1.2 Data on barriers to removal Currently, no publicly available data set exists on how many refused asylum seekers are without national documents, or realistic means of obtaining any, and who are therefore not able to leave the UK, either to their own country or anywhere else. However, there are data on the barriers to removal or deportation for detained foreign national offenders (FNOs) and this provides some insight into the factors affecting people’s ability to return. The UK government aims to return FNOs to their home countries as quickly as possible to protect the public, reduce costs and free up spaces in prison. However, many of the same issues facing refused asylum seekers can prevent their removal. (Note that FNOs are not the focus of the current research and did not form part of our sample. Recommendations made from our findings do not relate to FNOs.) As at the end of September 2016, for the 648 detained FNOs, the following were included in the barriers to removal (Home Office 2016c): Currently, families who have been refused asylum retain Section 95 support, which provides accommodation and £36.95 per week for each member of the family. For single adults, Section 4(2) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (HM Government 1999) allows for the provision of support to a limited number of refused asylum seekers. 1.2.1 Section 4 Section 4 provides accommodation and support to the value of £35.39 per week. This is not given in cash, but is loaded onto the Azure payment card. To qualify for this support, refused asylum seekers must be destitute. They must also fulfil one of the following five conditions: >> They are taking all reasonable steps to return to their home country >> They are not fit to travel >> There is no safe and viable route of return >> They have a pending judicial review >> It would be a breach of their human rights not to give them support. In practice, the last category is used mostly when the asylum seeker has further representations outstanding. The absence of a safe and viable route of return is rarely accepted unless there is a Home Office policy of non-return relating to the country in question (AIDA 2015). >> Country situation prohibits removal: 19 >> ETD awaited – individual compliant, but ETD awaited: 144 >> ETD required – country non-compliant: 17 If a person does not meet one of the five conditions and has no further representations outstanding, it is not considered a breach of their human rights to leave them destitute and homeless because it is considered that they can return to their home country (AIDA 2015). >> ETD required – FNO non-compliant: 7 >> Medical reasons: 9 >> Nationality not confirmed: 25. Furthermore, of the detained FNOs facing removal or deportation, 106 had been waiting 12 months Proving that you have taken all reasonable steps to return is particularly problematic for people from countries with which diplomatic relations have been suspended, whose embassies have complex requirements that are difficult to fulfil, or who belong to a group that is denied documentation by their country of origin (AIDA 2015). The fact that