Select committee: Justice and Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
1st Report - All families matter: An inquiry into family migration
Published 28 Feb 2023
Paragraph 39
Justice and Home Affairs Committee Family Migration All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government should harmonise which relatives are, or are not, eligible for entry and stay across immigration pathways and the Government should be transparent about the reasons for any differences. The Government should also aim to harmonise, so far as possible , the conditions to be met for the entry and stay of family members. The Government should update us by the end of 2023 about progress made as part of these harmonisation processes.
From: Justice and Home Affairs Committee, 1st Report - All families matter: An inquiry into family migration, paragraph 39, 28 February 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 9 June 2023 (deadline 28 April 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out that it does not think full harmonisation of family entry and stay conditions is "the right approach", and it largely defends existing rules on adult dependent relatives, the minimum income requirement, child sponsorship and visitor appeals.
- On bespoke routes, it says that "where possible" it uses existing pathways, but that some events are "so critical" that bespoke routes are needed, such as the Afghan and Ukraine schemes.
- On child refugees sponsoring relatives, it says doing so "would risk creating incentives" for more children to make hazardous journeys.
- On fees, it says they are kept under review but there are "no current plans" to reduce fees on the route to settlement or for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
- On the Immigration Rules, it states it has "accepted all of the Law Commission's recommendations in whole or in part" and aims "to consolidate the simplified Rules in early 2024".