3rd September 2025
In an unprecedented attack on the rights of refugees, the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday that applications for refugee family reunion would be suspended until a new system was put in place.
What will the new system look like?
We are expecting new rules for refugee family reunion to be published, but it is not clear when. It may be several months or more. We don’t yet know what they will look like, but we expect it will involve stricter criteria including:
- A wait before a new refugee becomes eligible to apply for refugee family reunion
- A minimum income requirement for the sponsor
- English language requirements for the family members applying to join the sponsor.
For people planning to apply for refugee family reunion
The deadline for submitting refugee family reunion applications was 3pm on Thursday 4th September.
If you were planning to apply for refugee family reunion but did not make an application before this deadline it’s possible you may be able to apply now under a different route. The government has said they will announce the new Rules for all immigration applications based on family relationships by the end of 2025. Until then the following routes are available.
Family Applications (under Appendix FM)
People with refugee status can now apply for family to join them if they meet requirements under existing family migration rules, which includes a minimum income requirement. You can find out more about those here.
We have a guide for people applying as a partner here. Children under 18 can also be added as dependants.
There is a fee of £1938 as well as the Immigration Health Surcharge. You can apply for a fee waiver if you cannot afford the fee, and so do not meet the minimum income requirement.
If you cannot meet all of the Rules, including the minimum income requirement, the Home Office still have to consider whether they should allow the family members to join the refugee in the UK. This will only happen where the Home Office accept that there are exceptional circumstances which would mean refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the family members involved.
It is certainly arguable that, where family life cannot continue in the country the refugee has fled from, refusal would be unjustifiably harsh. The government has not updated the guidance on this since 4 September 2025, so it is unclear what the Home Office will do with such an application. However, given the reasons given by the government for the change to the Rules, it is very unlikely that they will allow refugee families in through this route for this reason only.
Children joining Close Family Members with Refugee Status
Children who have no adult to care for them can apply to join a family member in the UK with refugee status. This only applies to certain family members (grandparent, brother, sister, step-parent, uncle (brother or half-brother of a child’s parent) or aunt (sister or half-sister of a child’s parent) who is aged 18 or over), and there must be an existing, genuine family relationship.
The Home Office guidance on these applications is here.
There is a requirement to show that there will be enough money to support them in the UK, and adequate accommodation.
There is a fee for this of £424, plus an Immigration Health surcharge. You can apply for a fee waiver if you cannot afford the fee, and so cannot meet the rules about supporting them.
If you cannot meet all of the Rules, including the maintenance requirement, the Home Office still have to consider whether they should allow the child to join the refugee in the UK. This will only happen where the Home Office accept that there is a close, genuine family life between the applicant and the refugee, and that refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the family members involved.
In our opinion it is unlikely that applications will be granted where the Rules are not met.
Adult Dependant Relative
Certain adults (parents, grandparents, children, brothers and sisters) who are dependent on a refugee in the UK can apply on this route. It is very hard to meet the Rules under this route, as you need to show that the applicant ‘must as a result of age, illness or disability require long term personal care to perform everyday tasks’, and that they cannot obtain that care in the country where they are.
The Home Office guidance on these applications is here.
There is a requirement to show that there will be enough money to support them in the UK, and adequate accommodation. The sponsor in the UK has to sign an undertaking (a legal promise) that they will support them without them claiming any public funds.
There is a fee for this of £424, plus an Immigration Health surcharge. You can apply for a fee waiver if you cannot afford the fee, and so cannot meet the rules about supporting them.
If you cannot meet all of the Rules, including the maintenance requirement, the Home Office still have to consider whether they should allow the family members to join the refugee in the UK. This will only happen where the Home Office accept that there is a close, genuine family life between the applicant and the refugee, and that refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the family members involved.
In our opinion it is unlikely that applications will be granted where the Rules are not met.
Family already in the UK
Where a pre-existing partner (from before the refugee arrived in the UK) or dependent children are in the UK but were not included as dependants on the refugee’s asylum claim, they will need to make an application to the Home Office.
This could be an application for asylum in their own right, or an application under Appendix FM as set out above.
Children born to a refugee in the UK with limited leave to remain will also need to make an application to the Home Office.
Background to refugee family reunion
Under longstanding rules in place until 4 September 2025, people granted refugee status in the UK are eligible to apply to bring family members to join them. They would arrive in the UK with refugee status and all the same rights as the family member they were joining. In the year to June 2025 there was an increase in refugee family reunion grants, largely because of the clearing of the last government’s huge asylum backlog which meant more people becoming eligible in a shorter time period. Of those visas granted, 92% were given to women and children – more than half to children. Two-thirds went to people from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran and Sudan.
Refugee family reunion is the only safe route for refugees to reach the UK from many countries. It is not always straightforward, and it is not a perfect system. Only children under 18 and spouses are within the rules. Lawyers, including GMIAU caseworkers and solicitors, could help people make more complex applications, but they are not guaranteed to succeed and can take a long time.
Once an application had been granted there is the challenge of getting to a visa centre which was often impossible and delayed people being able to get to the UK for many months. If anything, reforms of the refugee family reunion rules were necessary to make it less restrictive.
Our reaction
We know this news is devastating for many of the people we work with, who rightly hoped that after the long asylum process, they would have the right to apply to be with their family and bring them to safety. Keeping people apart from their families is cruel to individuals, and shutting down one of the only safe routes will lead to more people taking dangerous journeys as their only option to reach the UK. This utterly short-sighted, anti-asylum and anti-family policy must be reversed and refugee family reunion rights reinstated.
Contacting GMIAU about this
We strongly advise anyone in this position to obtain independent legal advice. Lawyers are already considering ways to challenge the suspension of the refugee family reunion route.
You can make a referral to GMIAU, but we cannot take on the cases of all the people who need our help. If you do make a referral, it is important that you give us as much information as possible about your situation. In particular, if there are specific reasons why you will be unable to earn enough money to meet the income rules; or why your family will be unable meet rules around speaking English; or if they are living in very difficult circumstances.