Refugees have the right to have their family join them in the UK through a system of family reunion visas. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how important this is for the wellbeing of all the family members. But “family” is narrowly defined. A 19 year old daughter, for instance, is not a “dependant”, though left alone in her country of origin she may be prey to abuse or to being trafficked. An elderly mother whose sons have made it to the UK may be left without support.
This is of concern to the agencies working in the field, and Baroness Hamwee has recently received Answers to Parliamentary Questions about the grant of visas for family reunion on the basis of “exceptional compelling compassionate circumstances” which is permitted outside the Immigration Rules. The Answers are set out in the following links.
The first gives figures of visas within the Rules (not requested, but interesting); the second shows the steep decline in discretionary grants over the last few years, counter-intuitively, given the international situation (but less so perhaps in the light of the Government’s attitude to immigration).
Yet another area of concern that the Liberal Democrats are taking up in the House of Lords.