Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department provides to former serving Afghan military personnel who are still in Afghanistan with resettlement in the UK.

We recognise that the situation in Afghanistan is complex and presents significant challenges, including securing safe passage to another country for those who are eligible for resettlement in the UK.

The Government welcomes its responsibility to those who have worked for, and alongside, British forces in conflict zones. They worked in dangerous and challenging situations, and we would not have been able to carry out our work there without them.

Any current or former staff directly employed by, or for, the UK Government and assessed to be at serious risk of threat to life are eligible to apply for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).  To support eligible people in Afghanistan in applying for the ARAP, we have made information available at:

Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy: further information on eligibility criteria, offer details and how to apply - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Government provides a safe and legal route to bring families together, through its family reunion policy. This allows a partner, or spouse, and children under 17 of refugees granted protection in the UK, to join them here, if they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country. To support people in Afghanistan, with family who have been granted protection in the UK, to understand their options, we have provided information on family reunion online, at:

Family reunion - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Those who are not eligible for protection under our resettlement schemes or family reunion policy, will need to apply to come to the UK under our existing economic or family migration rules, which can be viewed at:

https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration

To bolster the support we’ll offer to those eligible for relocation or family reunion in the UK, we intend to establish a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan as soon as the security and political situation in the country allows.