To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to relax immigration rules on the reunification of families and allow members of a refugee's extended family to join them in the UK.
Answered on
17 November 2015
Our refugee family reunion policy allows immediate family members of a person in the UK with refugee leave or humanitarian protection status - that is a spouse or partner and children under the age of 18, who formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin - to reunite with them in the UK.
We have no plans to widen these criteria, which are fully compliant with our international obligations and enable thousands of people each year to be reunited with their families in the UK.
We are also making a significant contribution to support refugees and their families in other ways. The UK has contributed over £1 billion in humanitarian aid in response to the Syrian crisis and we intend to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees displaced to neighbouring countries over the lifetime of this Parliament.