A SCOTS lawyer has criticised what he called the “perverse nature” of Home Office rules governing family reunion cases, and said there should be talks about a more pragmatic approach to them.
Usman Aslam said families who had been torn apart by war have the additional heartache of not seeing each other, in some cases for years.
The families of some migrants who were settled here could find themselves living in warzones, he said, where their next day could also be their last.
Aslam was speaking to The National after he was approached by a 50-year-old Syrian man, who has been in Glasgow for two years and is battling cancer.
The man, who we are calling Mr K, arrived in the UK late in 2018, almost two years before his wife and children were allowed to come over from the war-torn country.
READ MORE: Glasgow family split by pandemic and Home Office reunited after one year
“I did an application for my wife and children first, just my immediate family, but I was advised not to include my mother in case the whole family application would be refused,” he said. “In 2020, my family’s application was successful, but then we faced Covid-19 and very strict rules were brought in to stop the spread of the virus and we couldn’t apply for her then.”
Although an application had now been submitted for his elderly mother, he said he was worried that she was still in Turkey, where discrimination against Syrians is rife.
The decade-old Syrian conflict has displaced more than 13 million Syrians – over five million of them refugees, mainly in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
Mr K said: “My mother moved to Sudan first and because the situation was so bad there she moved to Turkey and has been there since 2016.
“She [is] living with my brother’s family. My brother is here awaiting a decision on an asylum application, but my mother is still in Turkey with her grandchildren.
“I have cancer and I have to be monitored by doctors and continue to take my medication.”
He contacted Aslam after The National told in 2019 how the mother of a young Syrian woman with just months to live was granted permission to visit her daughter in Scotland for the last time.
Aslam, from Rea Law in Glasgow, said: “I have been campaigning alongside various organisations such as Oxfam, Amnesty and MPs about the perverse nature of the family reunion rules, which have even been criticised by judges.
“It is regrettable that families, who have been torn apart by war have to suffer the heartache of never seeing each other, or being years without seeing each other.
“We must take a compassionate stand and put ourselves in these people’s shoes. What if it were your mother stuck in a country where people constantly discriminated against her? What if, like this person I’m representing, you had cancer and just wanted your mother next to you during difficult times?”
READ MORE: Migrants ‘scared to access health care’ in case data is passed to Home Office
He added that the fees for such applications were leaving people in serious difficulties and he would welcome having a discussion about them with Home Secretary Priti Patel.
“The Home Office have introduced a fee for family reunion applications, which whilst I am in the process of challenging, is leaving people in dire financial circumstances,” said the lawyer.
“They either have to jump through various hurdles, which will take a long time and can not only be a heartache, but their families are in warzones where any day could be their last.
“We welcome an honest and open conversation with the Secretary of State about a pragmatic approach to family reunion. We are hoping for a positive outcome for this client so that he can be with his mother during this very difficult time.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
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