Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 129949 on Afghanistan: Refugees, whether it is his Department's policy that a Relocations and Assistance Policy application invalidates an existing application for Leave Outside The Rules for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.

As mentioned in my response of 31 January 2023, Leave Outside the Rules was the previous way of applying for Additional Family Members (AFM) under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). AFM are now included within the ARAP immigration rules.

Afghan nationals can both submit their own ARAP application and be included on an AFM application submitted by a different applicant with confirmed ARAP eligibility. One does not invalidate the other.