Refugees waiting to be reunited with their families in Britain have been subjected to rape and are living in hiding under totalitarian regimes as they wait to be brought to safety, as a “life-threatening” backlog grows.
Figures obtained by The Independent show more than 11,000 people who are currently waiting for relocation are stranded abroad while being failed by one of the government’s only “safe and legal routes” to the UK.
The majority are women and children, in countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Iran. In all the cases, one of their close family members has already been granted protection in the UK and has the right to bring their partners and children to join them.
One Sudanese refugee told The Independent he has been waiting for almost a year for a visa for his wife and son, who are stranded amid a raging conflict that has already claimed his nephew’s life.
In another shocking incident, one girl was “followed home from school and raped” by Iranian security forces while waiting for the Home Office to process her visa. Meanwhile, hundreds of women remain trapped under the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, accused the government of “leaving people in life-threatening situations” and making them “easy prey for criminal smuggler gangs who put them on dangerous small boats”.
“It’s time the prime minister and home secretary stopped focusing on media headlines and got a grip of the chaos created on their watch,” she told The Independent.
Figures drawn from an official database under freedom of information laws show that the majority of the 11,189 refugees waiting for family reunion visas applied over six months ago, and almost 1,800 have been living in limbo for over a year.
More than 7,000 of those stranded are women and girls, and 5,700 were children at the time applications for their safe transfer were made by relatives in Britain. Syria is the top nationality, followed by Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.
The borders watchdog has warned that “failing” family reunion processes are leaving women and children in danger while driving up the risk of vulnerable people resorting to Channel crossings to reach loved ones in the UK.
But ministers frequently cite the visas as a viable safe and legal route to Britain, while pushing its laws that aim to see all small boat migrants detained, deported and barred from re-entering the UK.
When introducing the Illegal Migration Bill to parliament, Suella Braverman said she was “proud” of the scheme, telling MPs: “We have a family reunification scheme to enable family members to join their family here. That is a record of which we should be proud.”
The home secretary has frequently brought up family reunions when defending against MPs’ criticism of the Rwanda plan – that if passed will see refugees sent to the African nation to claim asylum there – and other punitive policies, calling it a “crucial” alternative to small boats.
“We are proud of those safe and legal routes,” she told parliament in March. “When we stop the boats, we will look to expand those routes.”
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has also frequently hailed the reunion visas, calling arguments that the government has not created sufficient alternatives to small boat crossings “ridiculous”.
“Some 45,000 people have come across on family reunion visas,” he said. “We need no lectures on playing our part as a generous and compassionate country.”
But Home Office figures show that under 4,500 visas were granted last year, meaning that it would take until 2026 to clear the backlog at that rate, while more applications flow in from desperate families.
Scottish National Party home affairs spokesperson Alison Thewliss has lobbied the government on behalf of one of her constituents – an Iranian man who applied for visas for his wife, son and daughter over six months ago.
“In the meantime, his family are in danger – his daughter was followed home from school and raped by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” she said. “This is why people do not wait in-country for the government to process their visas. They do not wait because they are at risk of persecution, rape, danger and torture.
A report by the borders watchdog found that ‘failing’ family reunion processes could drive up small boats crossings
