Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assistance is available to foreign nationals in the UK who have indefinite right to remain to communicate with family members who are refugees abroad; and what support she is providing to overseas refugees with family members in the UK to seek asylum in the UK.

Recognised refugees and those granted humanitarian protection in the UK are advised about family reunion provisions as part of the information they receive with the decision on their asylum claim. Details are also on the Gov.UK website. Support in tracing family members overseas is available through the British Red Cross Family Tracing Service. More information can be found at: http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Finding-missing-family/International-family-tracing

We do not consider asylum claims made abroad and there is no provision in our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum. The Refugee Convention places no obligation on signatory states to consider claims made outside their territory. Those who need international protection should claim in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.

We support the principle of family unity and have several routes for families of refugees to be reunited safely. Our family reunion policy allows a spouse or partner and children under the age of 18 of those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country.

The UK also operates several resettlement schemes that bring vulnerable individuals who need protection to the UK. These are Gateway, Mandate, the Syrian Vulnerable Person's Resettlement Scheme and the new Vulnerable Children's Resettlement Scheme. All schemes see the UK working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed criteria.