More than 16,000 refugees unable to reunite with families in UK, says Refugee Council

Migrants on a small boat approaching Dover after crossing the Channel. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Migrants on a small boat approaching Dover after crossing the Channel. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images More than 16,000 refugees unable to reunite with families in UK, says Refugee Council Suspension of family reunion route has left many stuck in conflict zones or using people smugglers to reach safety More than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with families in the UK, leaving them either stuck in conflict zones or resorting to using people-smugglers to reach safety, according to the Refugee Council. The government suspended the refugee family reunion route last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to bring immediate family members such as a spouse and their children under 18 to reunite with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year. However, no confirmation has yet been made of any resumption of this route, which provides a lifeline for thousands of families separated by war. The Refugee Council calculated 16,300 people have been barred from applying since the suspension came into force 10 months ago, using published Home Office data from the months prior to the suspension. Nine out of 10 of those granted refugee family reunion are women and children. Based on the data, they estimate that this figure includes 9,273 children and 5,835 women. The government operates other safe and legal routes for the most vulnerable refugees, but these arrivals have fallen by more than a third in the last year. New routes have been announced , such as community sponsorship, where a community supports refugees of their choice with housing, finding a job and integration. However, Home Office sources told the Guardian that the scheme, as it has operated for the last decade, has brought just 1,000 individuals to the UK, mainly in family units, so only a small number of families have benefited from it each year. The government said it expected the new community sponsorship scheme, along with new study and work routes, would initially bring refugees in in the low hundreds. Several hundred asylum seekers cross the Channel in small boats on a moderately busy day. One Iranian refugee, who lives in London with her two children aged 21 and 16, said she was distraught about the refugee family reunion suspension as her husband was trapped in very dangerous circumstances in Iran. She and her children arrived here four years ago and claimed asylum but had to wait nearly a year-and-a-half for their initial Home Office interview. Their case was initially rejected and then won on appeal. “Had the Home Office processed our case quickly, we could have brought my husband here before the ban on refugee family reunion was imposed,” she said. “It is agonising torture knowing my husband is still trapped in Iran. In my view, what is happening is a clear and direct