Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to give Afghan people on pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (a) refugee and (b) humanitarian protection status for family reunion purposes.

The government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. However, the situation is complex and presents significant challenges, including how those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK can leave the country. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under the ACRS.

Individuals resettled under Pathway 2 of the ACRS will be granted refugee status in the UK and will be eligible to sponsor their immediate family under the government’s refugee family reunion scheme.

Individuals resettled under Pathway 1 and 3 will not be eligible for this scheme as they will not be granted refugee status. However, they may be
eligible to apply to sponsor family members under Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. These Rules provide for a partner, dependent children and adult dependent relatives to apply to join, or stay with, a settled person in the UK.

For those evacuated from Afghanistan under ACRS P1 without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited. Further details will be provided in due course.