Families Together coalition — Written evidence (FAM0033)    

The Families Together coalition

The Families Together coalition is made up of more than 100 organisations with the aim of expanding and improving access to family reunion for refugees. The coalition is led by Amnesty International UK, the British Red Cross, the Refugee Council, Student Action for Refugees, and the VOICES Network. The coalition was set up in 2017.

Summary of submission

This submission contains 2 parts:

Part 1: Overview of family reunion rights and entitlements for people with protection needs in the UK

A table setting out the family reunion entitlements and mechanisms for different cohorts of people with protection needs in the UK. Since 2021, the family reunion policy landscape has become increasingly complex with the introduction of a series of bespoke pathways for people with protection needs, and the introduction of the Nationality and Borders Act (2022). To the best of our knowledge, there is no publicly available document that clearly brings together all of the different family reunion entitlements and mechanisms across the various cohorts of people with protection needs.

Part 2: Refugee children and family reunion: the case for allowing children to sponsor their families

We set out the available evidence covering how and why refugee children end up unaccompanied in the UK. The evidence does not support the government’s position that allowing child refugees to sponsor family members would incentivise children to make dangerous journeys to reach the UK. Rather, the evidence points to the opposite: that family reunion policies do not have a significant impact on where unaccompanied children claim asylum. When this evidence is considered alongside the overwhelming evidence of the harm caused to children by prolonged separation from their families, we argue that allowing children to sponsor their family members is overwhelmingly in their best interests.

Part 1: Overview of family reunion rights and mechanisms for people with protection needs in the UK

The overall picture of family reunion entitlements and mechanisms for people with protection needs in the UK is becoming increasingly complex. Since 2021, the government has introduced a series of bespoke pathways for different cohorts of people with protection needs. These pathways lead to different immigration statuses, conferring differing entitlements to family reunification.

The following table lists the cohorts of people with protection needs in the UK according to their protection status and leave status alongside their entitlements to family reunification, and the mechanism to facilitate that reunification.

Notes

Grants of leave outside the Immigration Rules

In any application for family reunion where the requirements for Part 11 under the Immigration Rules are not met, the Home Office is required to consider whether there are any exceptional circumstances or compassionate factors which justify a grant of leave ‘outside the Rules’. In considering this, they must have regard to the best interests of the child under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, and the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). However, the direction to tribunals and courts contained in the Article 8 legislative scheme in sections 117A-D of the Nationality, Immigration & Asylum Act 2002 (as inserted by section 19 of the Immigration Act 2014) seeks to narrow the reach of Article 8 (including family life) in cases that are not provided for within the Rules. In practice, applications for leave outside the Rules are complex, and decision-making in these cases is particularly unpredictable.

Means tested routes

Appendix FM (“Family Members”) to the Immigration Rules

Appendix FM is a route for those seeking to enter or remain in the UK on the basis of their family life with a person who is a British citizen, or is settled in the UK. It may also be used by those seeking to reunite with a person who is in the UK with limited leave as a refugee or person granted humanitarian protection when the applicant would not be able to use Part 11 of the Immigration Rules, and where there are no exceptional circumstances or compassionate factors justifying a grant of leave outside the Rules. Applications under Appendix FM are subject to fees. Sponsors must also demonstrate that they can provide financial support and accommodation for their family members, without relying on public funds. Family members are not exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge and adult family members must also meet a minimum language requirement. In practice, this route is not feasible for the vast majority of those who arrive in the UK seeking protection.

Paragraph 319X in Part 8 of the Immigration Rules

319X provides for minor child applicants to join an adult refugee sponsor in the UK who is not their parent. This may be used, for example, in situations where a child has lost their parents and needs to join another relative. This route is means tested. The adult refugee sponsor must show that they can provide financial support and accommodation for the child, without relying on public funds. However, the Immigration Rules were changed on 28th June 2022 to include 319XAA, which provides for decision-makers to consider whether there are exceptional circumstances which justify a grant of leave in line with the sponsor inside the Rules where maintenance and accommodation are not met. They may also grant leave in line with the sponsor inside the Rules where Article 8 of the ECHR would be violated.

Further information

Borelli, S. et al. (2021) Refugee Family Reunification in the UK: Challenges and Prospects. Centre for Research in Law (CRiL) at the University of Bedfordshire. (Note that this was prepared prior to the implementation of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.)

Part 2: Refugee children and family reunion: the case for allowing children to sponsor their families

Introduction

The Families Together coalition was set up in 2017 by leading charities including Amnesty International UK, the British Red Cross, and the Refugee Council to coordinate efforts to expand refugees’ access to family reunion. One of the coalition’s calls was, and remains, for provision to be made within the Immigration Rules for unaccompanied refugee children to sponsor their parents and their siblings.

Since 2017, the coalition and its members have produced research demonstrating the negative impact of family separation on the mental health, development and integration prospects for refugee children. For detailed information, see the following reports: Without My Family: the impact of family separation on child refugees in the UK (2019); Destination anywhere: the profile and protection situation of unaccompanied and separated children (2019); and ‘A refugee and then…’: Participatory Assessment of the Reception and Early Integration of Unaccompanied Refugee Children in the UK (2019).

The Home Office has not disputed the coalition’s findings regarding the importance of family for young refugees and the negative impact of family separation. We are confident that the Home Office and all those in parliament share the coalition’s view that children belong with their families and that family separation is deeply harmful to children.

Nevertheless, the Home Office has consistently indicated its opposition to this policy change – most recently in the government’s response to the Second Reading of Baroness Ludford’s Family Reunion Bill (2022) in the House of Lords. The Home Office’s position is that allowing child refugees to sponsor their family members will incentivise families to send children on dangerous journeys to the UK to enable the rest of the family to follow them.

Since there is general agreement that family separation is negative for refugee children, this briefing does not cover the impact of family separation on child refugees. Instead, this briefing focuses solely on the remaining point of contention: whether allowing refugee children to sponsor their families will endanger children and lead to a rise in dangerous journeys.

To date, the government have not produced any evidence to support their position. The coalition is not aware of any research or studies that support the idea that allowing refugee children to sponsor family members will lead to them being sent ahead to the UK. In contrast, there is a wealth of evidence pointing to the opposite: that family reunion policies do not have a significant influence on where children claim asylum. When the balance in the evidence is considered alongside what we already know, and all agree on, about the harmful impact of family separation on refugee children, it is undeniable that allowing children to sponsor their family members is in their best interests. The best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in the design of any immigration policy.

Understanding what influences where children claim asylum

The government’s position that allowing children to sponsor their family members would incentivise them to make dangerous journeys to claim asylum in the UK relies on the assumption that children are influenced by the family reunion policies of different countries when deciding where to claim asylum.

Evidence gathered by the UNHCR, Amnesty International UK, the Refugee Council and Save the Children does not support this.[1] There are many factors that influence where refugees claim asylum. When children flee their country of origin, decisions are often made in haste. Most do not leave with a fully formed plan. UNHCR’s research indicates that children tend not to know where they are going when they depart their country of origin. They are primarily concerned to escape the immediate danger that they are facing, rather than to reach a specific destination.[2]

Where children do set out with the UK in mind, they often lack a full understanding of the UK. The factors that influence their decision include a vague idea that the UK is a place where they will be looked after, the English language, and whether they know anyone in the UK. Sometimes it is simply familiarity with aspects of UK culture. For example, UNHCR spoke to children who explained their decision based on their favourite football team being a UK team.[3] None of the coalition organisations have found evidence that children were aware of the different family reunion policies of different countries when deciding where to claim asylum.

It is also important to remember that separated children often lack decision-making power. Many children report being unaware of their destination.[4] In these cases, their destination may be determined by smugglers or traffickers.

Understanding why children claim asylum unaccompanied

Also core to the government’s argument is the idea that parents will willingly send children to make a dangerous journey in order to bring the rest of the family to the UK. Again, this does not reflect the reality observed by Amnesty International UK, the Refugee Council, UNHCR or Save the Children.

Where a parent sends their child out of the country alone, it is as a last resort.[5] Parents make this decision in the most desperate of circumstances, believing it to be their best chance to protect their child. This can occur, for example, where the danger facing that family is particularly acute for a child. Forceful conscription of boys is a common example.[6]

Many children who arrive unaccompanied in the UK set off from their country of origin with their parents and their family unit intact. Over the course of their journey, they become separated, often in the most traumatic circumstances.[7] We have not found evidence of parents considering asylum systems or family reunion policies when making arrangements for their children to flee.

Available international comparisons

The UK’s lack of provision for refugee children to sponsor any family members makes it an outlier in Europe. It is the only country other than Switzerland not to make such provision.[8]

The EU has attempted to assess the impact of allowing children to sponsor family members on the number of child applicants that country receives, issuing calls for information in 2012 and 2017. While some European countries claim to have noticed a trend during the peak of the refugee crisis from 2015-2017 towards the idea of children being sent ahead for family members to join them, the overwhelming majority did not see any consistent pattern.[9]

In 2016, a report by the European Committee of the House of Lords categorically concluded that there was no evidence provided by other EU Member States that children had been exploited by being sent ahead for other family members to join them.[10]

Case study

As members of the Hazara minority ethnic group, Mohammad Razai’s family were targeted by successive regimes in Afghanistan. His father was tortured and murdered by the Russian-backed regime in Afghanistan in 1986. When the Taliban took power, officials murdered his uncle. Mohammad’s mother was terrified that he too would be killed. She was particularly scared of the sexual abuse that Taliban officials inflicted on young boys, and kept Mohammad indoors as much as possible for his own safety.

Mohammad’s mother knew that she could not keep her son indoors indefinitely. She needed another way to keep him safe. She arranged for Mohammad to escape Afghanistan with the help of a trusted friend of the family. Neither he nor his mother knew that he would end up in England.

Mohammad described his mother’s mentality as members of his family were killed: “She became really protective of me… her concern was for me more than for her own life.” He remembers her crying as he and his cousin left Kabul.

Since 2001, Mohammad has seen his mother just twice. She remains trapped in Afghanistan, despite his many attempts to bring her to the UK.

Mohammad has had tremendous success against the odds. He graduated from the University of Cambridge and works for the NHS as a doctor. But his success does not make up for the pain he has experienced by being unable to reunite with his family.

“Being separated affected me emotionally and psychologically, from which I never really recovered. A local authority is not the same as one’s family when you are a teenager.”

Mohammad supports the Families Together coalition’s call for refugee children to be able to sponsor their family members.

Summary

The government’s claim that making provision in the Immigration Rules for children to sponsor their family members via refugee family reunion will incentivise children to make dangerous journeys is not supported by evidence. Instead, the available evidence suggests that family reunion policies are very unlikely to influence where children claim asylum. When weighing up the evidence alongside the harmful impact of family separation on refugee children, it is clear that providing for children to sponsor the family members is in their best interests.

This does not mean that every unaccompanied child will be able, or will seek, to reunite with their families. For many, the possibility simply does not exist as their families are missing or deceased. For others, their parents or siblings may not be able to join them because they have responsibilities in their home countries, for example. Norway’s experience is that from 1990 to 2015 just 12% of unaccompanied minors sponsored family members.[11]

In many ways this is a small change. It is small in terms of the number of people it will impact, and it is small in so far as it simply brings the rights of children into line with those that already exist for adults. But for those children who will be able to reunite with their parents and their brothers and sisters, this change will be absolutely transformational.

14 September 2022

Further information

Refugee Family Reunification in the UK: challenges and prospects (2021) includes a detailed overview of the Immigration Rules relating to family reunion, as well as a discussion of child refugee sponsors in international law.

Overview of family reunion rights and mechanisms for people with protection needs in the UK provides an up-to-date picture of family reunion entitlements in light of the Nationality and Borders Act (2022) and the bespoke visa schemes introduced since 2020.

Contact

This briefing has been prepared by the Families Together coalition, which brings together more than 100 organisations to expand and improve access to family reunion for refugees. The coalition is led by Amnesty International UK, the British Red Cross, the Refugee Council, Student Action for Refugees, and the VOICES Network.