Safe Passage UK

Safe Passage UK's legal team offers free advice and representation to unaccompanied child refugees and separated families. Our mission is to assist in family reunion applications under UK Immigration Rules and on humanitarian grounds. 

How we help

We offer support to unaccompanied children seeking to join family in the UK. Here’s how our team assists: 

  • Guidance on applications. We help children and their families understand the UK entry process, eligibility, and necessary evidence. 

  • Document preparation. Our team prepares witness statements with the child and family members and gathers supporting evidence, including expert reports when needed. 

  • Application assistance. We complete the required online and paper forms and keep track of the application’s progress. 

  • Addressing delays. We monitor the Home Office’s decision-making and challenge any unreasonable delays. 

  • Holistic support. We work with shelters abroad to ensure children receive comprehensive care. 

  • Appeal advice and support. In the event of a refusal, we provide the explain the appeal process and advise families on challenging a refusal decision in the UK’s First Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). When possible, we represent the child and their family during the appeal process, working alongside a UK barrister. 

Fighting for justice

We combine individual casework with the pursuit of systemic change to make family reunion in the UK more just and accessible. When policies and laws prevent refugees from safely reuniting with their families, we challenge these barriers through strategic litigation. By addressing delays and unfair decisions in children’s cases, we work to improve access to safe pathways and support for young asylum seekers and refugees.

Our legal work also informs and strengthens our campaigning efforts. Using insights gained from our casework, we create campaigns advocating for a fairer, more humane family reunion and asylum system in the UK. 

Responding in times of crisis 

In urgent situations, we to help affected individuals reunite with their families in the UK. We have provided critical support to refugees from conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan, guiding families through the reunion process during their time of need. By adapting quickly, we work to ensure that those facing crisis have access to safe routes and the chance to reunite with their loved ones.

  • Our Gaza response work focuses on helping families in Gaza reunite with loved ones in the UK and strengthening the UK legal sector’s ability to assist these families. We’ve supported 45 people on the over in this complex process, with over half of them being children.

    Our work includes: 

    • Providing legal advice and representation to families from Gaza seeking reunification in the UK. 

    • Sharing insights and patterns to enhance the capacity of UK legal professionals to support families fleeing Gaza. 

    • Using strategic litigation to set legal precedents that can benefit many more refugees. 

    Despite the ongoing violence and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, safe routes to the UK are still lacking and many face unimaginable challenges to reunite with loved ones.

    We campaign to raise public awareness and support for refugees seeking family reunion in the UK, and to create new safe routes so those fleeing Gaza and other deadly conflicts have a safe way to reach the UK to claim protection.

  • Our Sudan response work aims to support individuals impacted by the ongoing crisis, providing guidance on family reunion processes and legal pathways to safety in the UK.

    Working with 6 law firms, we provide legal and social support to refugees fleeing Sudan to help reach family and safety in the UK. We’ve trained over 100 lawyers to provide expert legal advice and representation to people on the move and are currently representing 8 cases, many being lone or separated children.

    We also run regular sessions with separated families and practitioners to build awareness of family reunion processes and enable more people to access their rights.

    Despite experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and relentless violence, Sudanese people still don’t have a safe route to the UK – and existing family reunion routes are too often failing families torn apart by the conflict. We campaign to change that and make sure those who need it have a safe way to claim protection and reunite with family with the UK. Learn more about our campaigning work.

  • In September 2022, Safe Passage opened a free legal advice clinic in Warsaw, Poland where pro bono lawyers from the UK assisted Ukrainians seeking safety through the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. Recent government changes, however, have closed the Ukraine Family Scheme and restricted eligibility for the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, significantly affecting Safe Passage clients. 

    With the closure of the Warsaw clinic, we continue to support Ukrainians who now face more complex pathways to reunite with their UK-based families, with a focus on children who are unable to join their family in the UK due to the recent Government changes to the schemes.  

    Please note: This project has now ended. We’re still processing cases of Ukrainian wishing to reunite with family through our normal casework. For advice and support, please contact us via the form below.

  • Following the fall of Kabul, the UK government introduced programs to help Afghan citizens resettle in the UK. However, these programs have fallen short of their promises, leaving many Afghans in dangerous situations.

    The Afghan Pro Bono Initiative was set up by Refugee Legal Support (RLS) and Safe Passage, aiming to fill this gap and help Afghan nationals reunite with family members in the UK. 

    • The Initiative provides high-quality legal representation in family reunion, the ARAP scheme, the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, and other cases. 

    • Pro bono lawyers from law firms receive training and supervision from immigration experts at the NGOs to assist with casework. 

    • Insights from this project contribute to advocacy for safer, more effective family reunion and resettlement programs, influencing policy and decision-making. 

    The Initiative recognises that pro bono work cannot replace a robust public legal aid system, so we also support legal aid practitioners to boost casework capacity for Afghan family reunion cases.

    Please note: The UK government has suspended all remaining safe routes for Afghans as of July 2025. We are still representing Afghans who applied before the schemes closure, but can only help with new applications for the UK’s family reunion route. For advice and support, please contact us via the form below.

Arrival and social support

Safe Passage’s commitment to family reunification goes beyond securing safe entry; we provide arrival and social support to help young refugees and families settle into their new lives in the UK. We offer practical and emotional assistance to families and young people as they navigate the complexities of reunification.