Refugees: Children

Home Office written question – answered at on 11 September 2017.

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Photo of Kate Osamor Kate Osamor Shadow Secretary of State for International Development

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to ensure that unaccompanied children will be able to be reunited with their close family when the UK leaves the EU.

Photo of Brandon Lewis Brandon Lewis The Minister for Immigration

The UK strongly supports the principle of family unity and there are already legal routes for families to be reunited safely that are not dependent on our EU membership. The UK’s family reunion policy is generous, and we have and continue to reunite refugees with their immediate family, including granting over 23,000 family reunion visas over the last five years.

The EU Dublin Regulation determines the Member State with responsibility for assessing an asylum claim. Under the Regulation unaccompanied children present in another EU Member State can be transferred to the UK to have their asylum claim assessed where they have a qualifying family member or relative legally present and transfer is in their best interests. We expect cooperation on asylum and migration with our European partners to continue after the UK leaves the EU, and will discuss the exact nature of this cooperation in negotiations.

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