We concur with UNHCR that the UK Government All in all, 51% of all applicants, of whom 96% were could support financial aid for refugee families women and children (whether they were in a third granted reunification. As one of the few safe and country or not) faced security risks while applying for legal routes into the UK, it would be appropriate for family reunion. the UK Government to treat family reunion less as a migration issue and more as a protection issue. Sponsors should be able to apply for family reunion on behalf of their family members. Alternatively, the Relatives are given just 30 days to enter the UK government could introduce a process of UK following granting of a visa. The short entry remote ‘pre-approval’ for people applying to join a clearance periods currently issued for family reunion family sponsor in the UK – removing the need to should be changed, with far longer periods of either travel to hand in papers. This could potentially be entry or entry clearance in-line with the sponsor’s done through online or phone interviews and paper- leave in the UK. A longer period would allow more based checks. time to make the considerable financial and logistical arrangements needed to organise the movement of family members from one country to another Ask for more information, rather than When families are reunited in the UK, systems must rejecting a family be in place to prevent destitution. Applicants are not currently being given the opportunity to submit further evidence for their application if their supporting documentation is not Family members should not be placed sufficient. Instead they are systematically refused, in danger to submit their applications forced into lengthy appeals processes in often very precarious living conditions (often in a third country Through our refugee family reunion services, the if they come from Syria or Eritrea). British Red Cross often sees people facing serious risks to their safety. Sponsors and applicants (or their representatives) should be contacted by entry clearance officers if Family members left in countries with no British their supporting documentation is not sufficient to embassy have to travel across borders to lodge grant family reunion visas, so that they can be given family reunion applications. This can present serious the opportunity to provide more information before risks to the applicant. their case is definitively refused. This would save For example, one 17 year-old Syrian boy was the Government money on appeals and prevent abducted and tortured for 4 days on his way to families being left in precarious and often vulnerable lodging his family reunion application in Turkey. situations while the appeals procedure takes place. Once in a third country, families also face protection risks, especially if they lack status. In our research, Not so straightforward, applicants reported fear of arrest, imprisonment and repatriation. In some cases, in particular Eritreans and Somalis in Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan, applicants feared persecution. Applicants potentially faced harsh fines and even imprisonment as a punishment. 18