Labour says the cap, which was introduced recently, will only cover 20% of non-EU migrants and the government is cutting 5, 000 staff at the UK Border Agency.
The UNHCR also praised an agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition Syrian National Coalition which made the agency's "strictly humanitarian and non-political operation" possible.
There is an encouraging precedent: in 1997 Sallie Mae, the student loans agency, was privatised by separating its government-guaranteed loans and debts from its future, non-guaranteed, activities.