thanks. just to clarify, it is not asylum and not yet available (but this is not criticism it is very good)
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/british-nationals-overseas-in-ho...
I dont know about the uk, but prob biggest diff to asylum is, that people in asylum get money/provisions while in this scheme you need to bring money (modest 6 month worth though)
Also discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23701333
I am absolutely no fan of the current UK admin but on this issue I think they've done the decent thing (which surprised me, tbh).