The UK government has just announced major reforms that will affect who can apply for refugee family reunion. These amendments entail longer waiting periods and a suspension of the existing plan that allows registered refugees to sponsor family members to come to the country. All this is being propelled by increasing support for far-right political movements. Simultaneously, the country’s housing system is coming under immense strain due to the influx of asylum seekers.
The announcement describes plans to adopt longer waiting periods before people can sponsor family reunification. At present, most asylum seekers are able to bring family members to the UK within 28 days of being granted refugee status. The government wants to control the stampede of applications that has overwhelmed housing resources around the country.
Under the new policies introduced by the current administration, the UK government will create an independent body to process appeals. Indeed the average wait time for appeals is still 54 weeks and climbing. This delay has resulted in tens of thousands being stuck in asylum accommodation waiting for decisions on their cases.
Suspension of Family Reunion Scheme
That’s a controversial call on the part of the UK government. It has suspended the humanitarian family reunion scheme, which used to allow recognised refugees to reunite with their family members already in-country. This decision has played out against a backdrop of skyrocketing public support for the far-right Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, warned that the bit-to-bit changes represented a callous approach to British obligations. He stated, “Far from stopping people taking dangerous journeys to cross the Channel, these changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.” The cessation is likely to add further risk and hardship to the vulnerable circumstances many refugee families already find themselves in.
As Yvette Cooper, an influential political leader and chair of her parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee, put it, the system must be “controlled” and “managed.” She stated, “The system has to be controlled and managed based on fair and properly enforced rules, not chaos and exploitation driven by criminal smuggler gangs.”
New Pilot Scheme with France
This month, UK and French regulators will implement a new “one in, one out” pilot scheme. This access initiative is just one element of their deeper reform push. This first stage of this plan would see the UK deporting refugees and asylum seekers to France in return for accepting pre-approved applicants. The federal government has stressed that family units will be the first target of this agreement.
Cooper issued a statement in response to the new settlement, emphasizing that “family units” would be given precedence under the agreement with France. The reciprocal legal route has recently cleared for applications, with the first cases still going through thorough security vetting.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to accelerate the emptying of hotels housing asylum seekers. This buildout is included in his overall plan to address and solve the various crises at our border. Behind the reforms, these are being sold as essential reforms under the weight of growing hard-right political interference at home intent on ending all of the above.
