“My son says ‘I miss you, when am I seeing you?’ Sometimes I lie to give him false hope. There’s a growing detachment there, because he knows I have lied to him.”
Kim is an asylum seeker based in Yorkshire, England. The 35-year-old, who has asked to use only a pseudonym out of fears for her safety, is among those in the UK who do not know when – or if – they will be able to see their children again, as the Labour government cracks down on the asylum system.
On Monday the government published a policy document setting out sweeping changes, which, the prime minister said, were aimed at “tackling severe strain on both our asylum system and our wider social contract”.
The changes would formally end the automatic right to family reunion for refugees, which allowed people’s relatives to join them in the UK once their asylum claim had been accepted.
Instead, once an asylum seeker has secured refugee status, they would have to move on to what the government calls a new “protection work and study” visa, for a fee, “if they obtain employment or commence study at an appropriate level”.
Then, they “could become eligible to sponsor family members to come to the UK”, but since the government warns the “same conditions may apply” to refugees as to “other legal migrants and UK citizens”, refugees do not know if they will face the £29,000-a-year minimum income requirements before they can sponsor a loved one to join them.
UK citizens must earn at least £29,000 a year to sponsor a family visa, and most students in the UK are not able to bring dependants.
Kim is on an access course pathway to training as a nurse while awaiting a decision on her asylum case.
This means that even if her asylum case is successful, it will be four years before she can hope to earn £29,000 – and, until the government provides further detail, she has no idea when she can hope to see her son, who is 13, again. The last time Kim saw her son in person he was four.
She said: “I am grateful for the sanctuary I have here, but I’m missing so much of my son’s life and I worry for his safety. I try to pass my values on to him over the phone. I have a three-year-old daughter who was born here. I feel guilty giving her so much attention when I have another child who isn’t getting that attention.”
Kim said she was visiting the UK nine years ago, raising awareness of political repression in Zimbabwe, when she was identified as a government critic back home, making it unsafe for her to return.
She had hoped she would be quickly reunited with her son in the UK. However, the Home Office has refused all attempts to bring him over while she awaits a decision in her case, and, even if she could afford to travel overseas to see him, she cannot leave the UK while she awaits an asylum decision.
“People like me want to contribute,” she said. “I want to work with elderly people, giving people comfort in their final days, like we do in Africa.
“The decision to leave your culture is not one people make easily. Any country can face war or political trouble. Zimbabwe might not be safe for me, but many people have moved there for refuge.
“Anyone can find themselves in a position where they need help – and the UK isn’t the only country that gives people help, it’s what human beings do for other human beings.”
The government suspended automatic family reunion in September, with Monday’s policy document outlining plans for “stricter requirements”, including plans for “domestic reform to the application of article 8 of the ECHR (European convention on human rights) … the right to respect for family and private life”.
The policy document also proposes that leave to remain for refugees be reduced to two-and-a-half years, and a 20-year wait for eligibility for settled status.
Nick Beales, of the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and Greater London, said: “It’s now clear that Labour’s shameful decision to suspend family reunion for recognised refugees was just the first shot in their war on asylum rights. The human cost of keeping vulnerable people separated from their loved ones is huge.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government has moved to suspend the refugee family reunion route, acknowledging the pressures it is putting on local authorities and public services.
“We understand the devastating circumstances of some families, which is why there remain other routes which individuals may be eligible to apply for in order to reunite with family.”
