Ministers will tighten rules making it harder for refugees to bring family members to the UK and overhaul the family reunion policy. The home secretary will change the way asylum cases are treated, citing officials' view that family reunion visas act as a magnet for Channel crossings. The number of family reunion visas rose to just over 20,000 in the year to June 2025, a 30% increase. Measures include strengthening border security, increasing returns, pursuing criminal smuggling gangs, and new rules to manage the asylum system. The plan aims to close costly asylum hotels and create more sustainable, deliverable solutions.
The home secretary will say: Our action to strengthen border security, increase returns and overhaul the broken asylum system are putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels. That means ensuring we have the powers we need to pursue the criminal smuggling gangs profiting from small boat crossings that other parties have voted against, but also new firm rules in place to manage the asylum system so we can close hotels.
Ministers are planning to make it harder for refugees to bring family members to the UK as part of a package of measures that Yvette Cooper will announce on Monday as she looks to get a grip on the fractious debate over irregular migration. The home secretary will tell MPs she plans to make a number of changes to the way asylum cases are treated, including to the family reunion policy, which officials believe is acting as a magnet for people crossing the Channel.
Collection
[
|
...
]