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Refugees: Children

Question for Home Office

UIN HL5828, tabled on 6 March 2017

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will provide basic legal advice to refugee children already in the UK who wish to sponsor close family members to join them here; and what assessment they have made as to whether the admission of such relatives would reduce the costs to local authorities of providing care.

Answered on

20 March 2017

The Government does not intend to extend the provisions of the family reunion Rules. The policy meets our international obligations and we do not believe that widening the criteria to include extended family members, or allowing children to sponsor parents, is appropriate. We must do all we can to encourage those who need protection to seek asylum in the first safe country they reach and to support those countries hosting large numbers of refugees.

We believe that allowing children to sponsor family members would create perverse incentives for them to be encouraged, or even forced, to leave their family, risk hazardous journeys and seek to enter the UK illegally in order to sponsor relatives, rather than claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. This plays into the hands of criminal gangs who exploit vulnerable people and goes against our safe guarding responsibilities.

Legal aid is paid for by tax payers and resources are not limitless. It is therefore provided to those who most need it, including those who claim asylum. For those eligible to sponsor and apply for family reunion, we have already improved our guidance to caseworkers to ensure that applicants better understand the process and what is required of them so the provision of legal aid is not necessary.

Answered by

Home Office