Refugee Family Reunion
Since August 2021, more than 20,000 Afghans who arrived in Britain under the ARAP and ACRS schemes have been living in so-called ‘transition’ hotels. More than half are still living in temporary hotel accommodation, unable to fully settle and begin to rebuild their lives. According to the Home Office, there are currently 25,000 asylum seekers and 12,000 Afghan refugees in transition hotels, a total of 37,000 people.
The Afghan resettlement schemes have been slow and ineffective: only four Afghans have so far been resettled under the second phase of the ACRS scheme.
Some of those evacuated last year left behind spouses and young children. As resettled Afghans have Indefinite Leave to Remain, rather than Refugee Status, they are not entitled to Refugee Family Reunion. This means that there is no route for them to be reunited with their family members still stuck in Afghanistan. We continue to call on the government to create a route to resettlement for direct family members of those who have been resettled from Afghanistan. Otherwise, the number of Afghans crossing the Channel will continue to increase.
Asylum Welcome supports Safe Passage’s campaign to reunite Afghan families.
- Sign up to Safe Passage’s No Afghan Left Behind campaign to lobby the government to open resettlement routes for Afghan refugees.