December 30, 2022
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby led a debate in the House of Lords on 9th December on the principles that should underpin our asylum system in the UK. Read our briefing. The Archbishop highlighted the importance of expanding family reunion as a safe route to the UK. His comments were echoed by the Bishops of…
View ArticleAugust 3, 2022
The Government’s Nationality and Borders Act makes significant changes to refugee family reunion. On 6th July, the Families Together coalition brought together more than 50 family reunion practitioners to consider the impact of the changes. The key change introduced by the Act is ‘differential treatment’, where family reunion rights are now linked to the way…
View ArticleJuly 8, 2022
On Friday 8th July, the Family Reunion Bill passed its second reading the House of Lords. If enacted, the Bill would allow refugee children to sponsor their parents and siblings to join them in safety in the UK. It would also allow adult refugees to sponsor a greater range of family members and reintroduce legal…
View ArticleJune 28, 2022
A letter signed by coalition members was published in The Times on Saturday 25th June calling for the government to enable Afghan evacuees to reunite with their family members. The letter was signed by: Enver Solomon, CEO, Refugee Council Mike Adamson, chief executive, British Red Cross Dr Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, chief executive, Oxfam GB Sacha Deshmukh,…
View ArticleApril 28, 2022
The Families Together Coalition is bitterly disappointed that the Government’s harmful Nationality and Borders Bill has received royal assent to become law. We remain deeply concerned about the impact this Act will have on the thousands of women and children who would have had access to a safe and regular route to join loved ones…
View ArticleApril 19, 2022
The Families Together Coalition firmly opposes the government’s plan to transfer people seeking asylum who arrive irregularly in the UK to Rwanda where their asylum claim will be heard under the Rwandan asylum system rather than the UK system. The policy is wrong in principle and unworkable in practice. We are concerned that this policy…
View ArticleMarch 29, 2022
By introducing the Ukraine Family Scheme, the government has demonstrated that it is possible to expand existing immigration rules to support refugees to reunite with their loved ones – where there is the political will. The Ukraine Family Scheme expands an existing family visa route, which allows the family members of British nationals and people…
View ArticleJanuary 21, 2022
This briefing focuses on the provisions about the asylum system set out in Part 2- Clause 11 and in Part 5- Clause 69. The differential treatment outlined in clause 11 punishes refugees based on the way that they arrived in the UK. UNHCR has stated that the creation of Group 2 refugees is discriminatory and…
View ArticleJanuary 14, 2022
The deaths of 27 people in the channel on the 24th of November 2021 was a stark reminder ofthe desperate situation people looking for safety find themselves in. No one chooses to crossthe channel, the busiest shipping lane in the world, unless they have no other option. They havefled their home countries fleeing war, violence,…
View ArticleNovember 25, 2021
Yesterday we received the devastating news that a small boat with 34 people had capsized in the channel. 27 of those on board lost their lives. 2 people are in a critical condition and at least one person is still missing. These are men, women and children who were trying to reach the UK to…
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