Afghan man seeking asylum and permission to bring wife to Britain describes shock at home secretary’s announcement
The hopes of asylum seekers aiming to be reunited with their loved ones in the UK have been shattered after the home secretary announced on Monday that new applications to the family reunion scheme were to be suspended. The prospect of reuniting with spouses and children after reaching safety is often what sustains those trying to reach Britain during their difficult journeys.
Immigration lawyers are urgently working to lodge applications while the scheme remains open in cases of people who have been granted refugee status. The suspension will last until the spring and it is likely that any new scheme will be more restrictive than the current one, the Home Office said.
Ahmed (not his real name), an Afghan man who worked as a bodyguard for the team of the country’s vice-president under Hamid Karzai, fled to the UK to claim asylum after the Taliban takeover.
His lawyer has advised that his claim is likely to be accepted by the Home Office because of his direct association with the upper echelons of the previous Afghan government. His wife was a university student when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and forced her to abandon her studies. She escaped to neighbouring Pakistan, where she is at risk of deportation back to her home country. She and her husband had been pinning all their hopes on a family reunion application and had been planning a future together in the UK.
