Rishi Sunak eyes up deals to deport migrants to Armenia, Ivory Coast, Costa ... trends now
Britain is targeting four more countries as it seeks to replicate the Rwanda deportation scheme around the world, leaked documents are reported to show.
Armenia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica and Botswana have all entered talks with the UK government in what it describes as a 'third-country asylum processing deal', according to The Times.
Progress has reportedly stalled with all four countries, which were priorities in a long list of potential locations, as the Rwanda scheme struggles to get off the ground after two years of legal and political wrangling.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) also considered South American states including Paraguay, Peru, Brazil and Ecuador, but suggested their governments may have less interest in signing up.
Among those on a 'reserve list' included Cape Verde, Senegal, Tanzania and Sierra Leone - meaning they could be approached if talks with other, more favoured targets didn't succeed.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame met with Rishi Sunak last week as the British Prime Minister continues to push to get the Rwanda scheme up and running
File image shows a Border Force vessel docking in Dover following a small boat incident in the Channel last month
Meanwhile other countries including Morocco, Tunisia and Namibia are said to have 'explicitly declined' to enter technical discussions, and others were ruled out by officials as 'non-starters'.
The UK is in talks with the nations after Rishi Sunak gave the Home Office and Foreign Office a deadline of last autumn to secure two additional deals, The Times reports.
Civil servants are said to be testing countries against a feasibility criteria, which include the size of the territory and of its population - with some smaller states such as Suriname and Belize ruled out.
There were fears expressed by the Home Office in its discussions with the FCDO that not focusing on 'credible and realistically deliverable' risks 'wasting time, resource and political capital' as well as exposure to potential diplomatic issues.
Ministers were said to be keen to approach a wide geographical range of countries in the process.
Concerns were expressed that issues with the
