Asylum: Greek Islands

(asked on 14th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish information on which legal routes are available to asylum seekers in camps in Greece’s Aegean Islands who are seeking to be reunited with family in the UK.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 27th July 2021

The UK already provides a safe and legal route to bring families together through its refugee family reunion policy. The current refugee family reunion policy allows a partner and children under 18 of those granted protection in the UK to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country. Over 29,000 visas have been issued under this policy in the last 5 years. Under the family reunion policy, we do not restrict where someone has to be in order to make an application.

As set out in the New Plan for Immigration, the Government committed to review safe and legal routes to the UK and has a statutory duty to conduct a public consultation on family reunion for UASC in the EU. We have now completed the consultation as part of the wider consultation on the New Plan for Immigration. We have carefully considered the responses and a report, laid in Parliament on 22 July 2021, on the outcome of the review of safe and legal routes confirms the UK wants to be bold and ambitious in the safe and legal routes it provides.

New Plan for Immigration - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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