Britain is targeting four more countries as it seeks to replicate the Rwanda deportation scheme around the world, according to The Times, Report informs.
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.”
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 favored targets didn't succeed.
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 feasibility criteria, which include the size of the territory and of its population - with some smaller states such as Suriname and Belize ruled out.