Tilana, Albania--- The British Prime Minister said on Thursday that the UK is talking to several countries to receive denied asylum seekers awaiting deportation.

Prime Minister Kier Starmer said during a visit to Albania that the concept of “return to the hub” is a “very important innovation” that can more effectively address irregular immigration. He did not name the country he discussed or provided more details.

Albania has reached a five-year deal with Italy that it is possible to asylum as 36,000 migrants a year, while Italy's asylum requests are quickly tracked. Under the initial deal (unlike the one proposed in the UK), Italy will cancel any immigration denied request and attempt to deport them. But so far, the plan has failed due to repeated challenges from Italian courts.

In April, Italian authorities changed the disembark agreement for their immigrants to a change in the “return hub” model and transferred 40 people to Albania, which lacked Italian residence permits and refused its asylum requirements. This is the first time that an EU country has sent asylum seekers to a non-EU country, neither their own country nor the country they passed on during their journey.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said the deal with Italy was "a concern" and Tilana rejected several requests to reach similar deals with other countries, ruling out the possibility of Britain sending rejected asylum seekers there.

The Conservative government, which was voted to pass power in July, planned a controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which they say is a safe third country. Starmer called his ex's plan to be mmmick and scrapped it on his first day of office.

Under the plan, asylum seekers will be sent to Rwanda, which will determine whether asylum will be granted there.

Under the "Return to the Hub" Starmer is discussing, immigrants who rejected the asylum claim in the UK will be sent to a third country to await deportation. A Starmer spokesman said the goal is to prevent asylum seekers from using stall strategies, such as building families in the UK, to prevent being sent back.

Immigration expert Meghan Benton said there is a lot of confusion between the different plans stipulated by the UK and other European countries. "There are a lot of legal and moral differences between them," Benton, who leads the global program in the Immigration Policy Institute think tank. Benton explained that while the Rwanda deal shifts the responsibility for the UK's asylum to a third country, Steamer's proposal involves people who exhaust asylum claims.

Benton added that several European countries, including the Netherlands and Sweden, also hoped to do so. The European Commission also supports the concept of "return center" to prevent irregular immigration.

During his visit to Albania on Thursday, the British Prime Minister also said that the joint task force has greatly reduced the number of Albanian immigrants trying to reach the UK. He added that his government is in talks with the Western Balkan countries to create a similar task force aimed at reducing bureaucratic entanglements, which hinders progress to reduce immigration arrivals.

The number of Albanians who crossed the UK channel on an insecure inflatable raft to find high-paying jobs dropped from 12,000 in 2022 to around 600 in 2024.

"There's an incredible reduction," Steamer said in a Rama news conference. "And I think it's a signal and an example of what two countries can do when they work together in this way."

Although so far, so far, so far, the total number of immigrants crossing channels on boats has increased by more than 30% so far compared to the same period last year.

In 2022, top British officials called the arrival of Albanians a "invasion", triggering diplomatic quarrels. Rama called it a "crazy narrative" and tried to cover up Britain's failed border policy. Albanians cannot seek asylum status in the UK, who considers Albania a safe country.

That same year, London and Tilana signed an agreement to return to London's British ship Albanians also funded projects, especially in the northeastern Albania where most illegal new immigrants came from.

Rama promised to continue her partnership with the UK to stop the arrival of immigration from Albania.

Starmer's visit to Albania was the first British Prime Minister. The two countries also signed a statement of intent to demand that the defense industry cooperate to jointly build military vehicles in Albania.

The British leader will participate in Tilana's European Political Society on Friday, a forum that brings together European leaders to promote security and prosperity throughout the continent.

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Previous versions of this story misrepresented that what the British Prime Minister called the concept of regression centers was "very important innovation." He actually said it was “a very important innovation.”

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AP reporter Brian Melley contributed to the story in London and Renata Brito in Barcelona, ​​Spain.

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