Refugees: Children

(asked on 13th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to enable unaccompanied refugee children to sponsor their parents for the purpose of refugee family reunion.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 18th June 2018

There is currently no provision in the Rules for children with refugee status in the UK to sponsor family members to join them. The Government believes the best interests of children are reflected in remaining with their families, claiming asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety – and relying on resettlement schemes to travel safely.

We are listening carefully to calls to expand the scope of the refugee family reunion rules and are reviewing our approach as part of the Government’s wider asylum and resettlement strategy.

However, expanding the policy without careful thought could risk more children being put in harms’ way, risking dangerous journeys in the hope of sponsoring relatives later. We continue to follow the passage of two Private Members’ Bills on refugee family reunion closely and will continue our productive discussions with non-governmental organisations in this area

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