Our new report with Refugee Council, Families belong together: Fixing the UK’s broken family reunion system, identifies serious failures and gaps in family reunion policy in the UK. Family reunion is one of the only safe routes to the UK for refugees, but it is failing those who need it, pushing desperate families into the hands of dangerous people smugglers.
We estimate that our proposed changes to Immigration Rules could help around 1000 additional people to reunite with loved ones every year, including over 300 separated children. The report makes five key recommendations to fix family reunion:
Amend the Immigration Rules to remove the barriers to children joining refugee non-parent adult relatives in the UK.
Amend the Immigration Rules to allow refugee children in the UK to sponsor parents and siblings.
Open a pathway to resettle the family members of people evacuated under Pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) by June 2024, as promised
Open a free pathway to allow Ukrainians with temporary status in the UK to sponsor their close family members, including their own children
Improve decision making so that by the end of September 2024 no refugee family reunion application is waiting longer than 12 weeks for a decision, in line with the Department’s service standard.