‘Unacceptable’ UK refugee rules tear apart Afghan families

Muhammad was airlifted out of Afghanistan when the United Kingdom agreed the return of the Taliban in August 2021 put him in danger, yet a loophole in humanitarian regulations means he is not considered a refugee. As a result, two years after the chaotic evacuation at Kabul airport, the civil engineer is still separated from the wife and two children he was forced to leave behind — despite U.K. officials telling him “don’t worry” when he left without them. Now NGOs are condemning this “unacceptable” flaw in the U.K.’s treatment of almost all of the 24,600 Afghans allowed into the country, many of whom — like Muhammad, who asked not to reveal his full name to protect his family — gave their support to the invading U.S.-led coalition. He had planned to take his family with him, but there was a terrorist attack at the airport, and he feared his children would be “crushed” in the stampede. “I told my wife it’s not safe to bring the kids, so they got left behind,” Muhammad explained from a government-funded hotel in England. His wife, 3-year-old son, and 2-year-old daughter are now trapped in Pakistan and at risk of deportation back to Afghanistan, which they fled soon after his evacuation. “I feel hopeless, worrying if they are safe,” he said. “My daughter did not recognize me on a video call, when I told her ‘I’m your father.’ That was very sad for me.” So when is a refugee not a refugee, according to the U.K.? The answer is complicated. When people, like the tens of thousands who were evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021, are granted “indefinite leave to remain” in the country, they are given the right to live, work, and study “for as long as you like,” and even to apply for British citizenship. But not, in contrast to people with refugee status, an automatic right to family reunification. Instead, a person must have accommodation and must be earning £18,600 ($22,700) a year in order to be allowed to bring in a spouse, plus a further £3,800 for a first child and £2,400 for each additional child. In Muhammad’s case, that means an annual income of £24,800. There are also huge application fees, currently more than £1,000 for a spouse and each child, plus a requirement to pay a “health care surcharge” of up to £3,120 per person. To Muhammad, this is a clear injustice. “It’s really unfair,” he said, noting that when Afghans arrive via other routes such as small boats, they are eligible to seek asylum and, if successful, are granted refugee status. “We are also refugees, brought to the U.K. by the U.K. government, but we have the status of indefinite leave to remain,” he said. “They are allowed to reunite with their families without any financial or accommodation requirements — but we have to fulfill those requirements when we are struggling to make our lives in the U.K.” Since being in the U.K., Muhammad has won a British Council scholarship to study construction project management and hopes to find a job as a site manager, but fears it will take “three or four years” to earn the income requirement demanded. Other Afghans in his hotel who are also separated from their families are in a worse situation. “Many cannot speak English, so how can they fill in forms to secure such a job and earn that amount?” he asks. Mark Nowottny, advocacy director for the International Rescue Committee in the U.K., condemned the rules. “When Kabul was evacuated, the U.K. government rightly committed to grant Afghans protection and family reunion. Yet in practice it is denying them the same right to reunite with their families practiced by those with refugee status,” he said. “It cannot be fair that people in Muhammad’s situation are treated differently simply because of inconsistencies across government schemes.” Meanwhile, there are humanitarian implications for the thousands of family members who remain in danger. Muhammad’s family remains stuck in Pakistan, where the authorities are cracking down on Afghans who crossed the land border to escape the Taliban takeover — estimated at more than 600,000 people. “My wife and my kids can’t go out. They have to stay inside their house because if they get caught by the police they may be told they will be deported back to Afghanistan,” Muhammad said. The Refugee Council told Devex in a statement that it was “unacceptable” that many Afghans remain stranded in neighboring Pakistan, unaware of when and how they will reach their family in the U.K. They noted a recent report that highlights the severe psychological strain of this separation. “It is high time the government honored its commitments to reunite Afghans with their families.” When asked, the U.K. Home Office refused to discuss why almost all the people from Afghanistan allowed into the country over the past two years have been given indefinite leave to remain, rather than full refugee status. Only around 100 people are classified as refugees — those referred by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, plus British Council or private security firm contractors, or students on the Chevening international scholarship program. A Home Office spokesperson said: “We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, and we are issuing new visas to people in Afghanistan and other countries for resettlement here.” A letter sent to refugee charities by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, described the family reunion situation as “complex.” It promised to provide “further information” but added: “We are unable to provide a target date at this time.”