Application fee and fee waiver

In summary, it is still possible for you to apply to reunite with your family under the normal family visa route. The fee for this route is £2064 (+ immigration health surcharge). Unless you can afford to pay this for every family member the first step would be to apply to the Home Office to waive the fee. The application should be in your family member’s name. You will need to show that you cannot afford the fee, that your family need to join you urgently and it is unreasonable to expect you to wait to save up the money for the fee. The Home Office has published guidance on fee waivers for entry clearance applications and the application form is here. If your family are granted a fee waiver, they will be given a code. They must apply for their visa within 28 days of receiving it. Entering the code will allow your family member to submit the application without paying the fee.

Visa application

Once the fee waiver is granted you will need to complete your family’s entry clearance visa application. See here for links to the correct application based on what family member you are applying for. You will need to do one application per family member. The family visa route has a minimum income requirement for partner/spouses and an adequate maintenance requirement for children. If you are in receipt of Universal Credit you are unlikely to meet those requirements and you will need to explain why refusing the visa would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for you and your family. See the Home Office guidance here.

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 £452, 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.

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 £452, 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.

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.

For children born in the UK whose parents have refugee status (but not settlement), an application can be made for refugee status. This is a free service. To apply, you must send a letter requesting that the UK-born child is granted permission to stay in line with your permission. The letter must state the child’s nationality and their home address.

You must also include the following. You can send copies or the original documents:

• The child’s long birth certificate;

• Evidence of both parents’ UK immigration status including full name(s), date of birth, any Home Office reference number(s) and/or copies of any BRP cards (current or expired); and

• 2 passport photographs of the child.

The letter and documents should be sent to:

Asylum Flow, Children and Complex (AFCC)
Customer Services | Home Office
Level 0, The Capital Building
Old Hall Street
Liverpool
L3 9PP