UK court overturns decisions blocking Gaza families from joining refugees

A UK immigration court has overturned Home Office decisions that blocked two mothers and their five young children from joining husbands who have been granted refugee status in Britain. The Upper Tribunal found that the Home Office had acted unlawfully in applying its Unsafe Journeys Policy to the two families. Both families are living in Gaza, where the visa application centre has been closed since October 2023 and travel to obtain biometric checks is difficult.

The families had been approved for reunification but faced requirements to provide fingerprints and facial images before travelling. The Home Office says such checks are a standard part of the UK immigration system and are needed to conduct security, criminal-record and immigration checks. The court heard that the two mothers and five children, all aged seven or under, were living in tents in severe conditions.

The judgment said they faced inadequate food, a lack of clean water, disease and the danger of snipers, while remaining separated from their husbands and fathers in the UK. Judge Fiona Lindsley said the children’s best interests had to be the primary consideration. She concluded that it could not be in their interests to remain afraid, undernourished and exposed to insanitary conditions without their fathers and without an end to the separation.

Decla Palmer of the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, which represents the families, said the Home Office was maintaining a policy that kept eligible families apart. She described the mothers and children as trapped in Gaza and said the fathers faced the possibility of never seeing their children again. The Home Office said it would seek permission to appeal.

The Foreign Office has said it is willing to evacuate some families so they can complete biometric checks in Jordan. The supplied report estimates that 250 to 300 families seeking reunion with immediate relatives in the UK may be similarly stranded.