Our Contribution to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee inquiry on Family Migration

The Justice and Home Affairs Committee is currently undertaking an inquiry into ‘family migration’ and given our specialism in this area of law and Appendix FM, we are following its progress closely.

Per its own description, the ‘inquiry will approach family migration policies in the widest possible sense, including the general trends in the design of family immigration pathways, similarities and discrepancies across them, how migration policies affect families, and how family migration policies affect society.’ In other words, the inquiry is trying to compare and contrast various categories of individuals and policies which affect those who wish live in the UK with their family member.

In September, Danielle submitted written evidence to the Committee, outlining her experience of the disparities across a number of immigration routes and the inconsistencies among categories.

As a human rights lawyer, Danielle also drew attention to the particularly narrow interpretation of family life, with applicants being forced to demonstrate exceptional emotional ties where they are not a partner or a child under the age of 18. Danielle has written previously about the exceptionally high threshold imposed by the Adult Dependent Relative route, following the change to the rules in 2012.

Danielle also highlighted the Home Office’s failure to implement a concession during the pandemic for EEA nationals, or the partners of EEA nationals, who were precluded from marrying due to social distancing requirements.

Our submission is available to read on the inquiry’s website.

We are encouraged by the Committee’s wide-ranging inquiry and look forward to reading its final report.

We continue in our commitment to promote the rights of individuals to family life in the UK, and as human rights lawyers, we are committed to contribute to the conversation about migration and its various policies.