LONDON: Britain’s government will announce plans on Thursday to end a scheme allowing family members to join refugees already in the country.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to outline plans to scrap the family reunion scheme at an EU leaders’ summit in Copenhagen.
The government will also remove automatic settlement rights for refugees as part of broader immigration reforms.
Applications for family reunions had already been paused last month as part of these changes.
“The fundamental reforms will be the basis of a fairer system where the route to settlement should be longer, and be earned via contribution to the country,“ the UK government said in a press release.
Starmer’s Labour government has adopted a tougher stance against record-levels of legal and irregular immigration.
This move aims to counter the rise of the anti-immigration, hard-right Reform UK party and calm a bitter national debate.
The government suspended new family reunion applications at the start of September to discourage Channel crossings.
Home Office figures showed almost 21,000 refugee family reunion visas were issued in the year to June 2025.
The vast majority of these visas were granted to women and children seeking to join family members.
Migrants given refugee status will no longer receive automatic resettlement under the policy change.
They will instead face a new, longer route to settlement requiring them to contribute without automatic family reunion rights.
“We’re making fundamental changes to what those granted asylum are afforded in the UK,“ Starmer said in a statement.
“The UK will continue to play its role in welcoming genuine refugees fleeing persecution.”
He added that there would be no golden ticket to settling in the UK and people would have to earn it.
On Wednesday, Starmer said the government would review how UK courts interpret human rights law.
This review aims to curb immigration levels and enable the deportation of more migrants.
Over 111,000 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025.
This represents the highest-ever number of applications since records began in 2001.
More than 30,000 migrants have made the dangerous Channel crossing from northern France so far this year.
At least 27 people have died attempting the crossing according to an AFP tally based on official French data.
Jon Featonby from the Refugee Council charity said the new policies would damage integration.
He warned the changes would make refugees feel unsafe and force children to grow up without their parents.
“In reality, restricting family reunion only pushes more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.”
Earlier this week, interior minister Shabana Mahmood announced new requirements for legal migrants.
Those seeking indefinite leave to remain must now have a job and not claim benefits.
They must also undertake volunteer community work as part of the new settlement criteria. – AFP