Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to provide safe and legal routes for people displaced from Sudan who are dependents of British nationals to come to the UK.

Over 2,000 people have been evacuated to safety in the longest and largest airlift of any western nation during the crisis in Sudan. As well as British nationals, the UK has also evacuated Sudanese clinicians who work in the NHS.

In addition, those individuals who were evacuated from Sudan by other governments who would have met the criteria for evacuation by the UK government will also be able to come to the UK.

The UK Government is monitoring the situation in Sudan closely to ensure that it is able to respond appropriately. We recognise that some people displaced by the fighting may wish to join family in the UK, and where those family members do not have a current UK visa, they can apply for one via one of our standard visa routes, which remain available, and applications can be submitted at the nearest Visa Application Centre (VAC).

Those wishing to come to the UK for a short time to stay with family can apply for a visit visa which allows them to stay in the UK for up to six months. Immediate family members of British citizens, and those settled in the UK, who wish to come and live in the UK can apply under one of the existing family visa routes. The safe and legal entry routes are country-specific and global:

• Resettlement, including UNHCR schemes (UK Resettlement scheme, mandate scheme, and community sponsorship), as well as the Afghan Resettlement Programme
• Family reunion visas
• BN(O) Hong Kong visas
• Ukraine Family, Sponsorship and Extension Scheme visas

Applications can be made at any VAC and we will accept applications which would normally have to be made in the country where the person is living at any VAC from someone who has been evacuated, or self-evacuated, from Sudan.