Refugee families divided by lines of Home Office rule book – Carmichael

Writing for PoliticsHome, Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael has said:

Imagine that you have had to flee your home because of a repressive government. Imagine that you’ve then faced a long, life-threatening journey to reach a country where you are able to apply for asylum. Imagine going through an extensive, bureaucratic asylum system and eventually experiencing elation at being granted refugee status.

Then imagine being denied the right to bring your family members to come and join you, or facing the invidious choice of only being able to be joined by some of your very closest relatives, but not others.

This is exactly what the current refugee family reunion system operated by the UK Government is doing. Just when family members need each other the most, they are kept apart, divided by a few lines in the Home Office’s rule book.

Under the current rules, adult refugees in the UK can apply to sponsor their spouse/partner and their dependent children who are under the age of 18. If the application is successful—and nearly half of the time they are not—then their family members can travel to the UK to join them.

But other family members are not so lucky. Elderly parents, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles are all excluded. So too are adult children, even if they are barely adults.