UK Refugee Family Reunion: Closed to New Applications
Refugee family reunion is closed to new applications. This guide records what the route was, when it closed, what happens to applications already in the system, and what GOV.UK now points people to instead.
- Section
- Asylum & Refugee
- Reading time
- 8 min
- Last checked
- 9 June 2026
- Source
- The published Immigration Rules and GOV.UK guidance, linked throughout this guide.
- Rowan does not
- Look at your own case, tell you which route to choose, or say what the Home Office will decide. This guide shows the published rules and where to read them.
In short
- New refugee family reunion applications have not been accepted since 3pm on 4 September 2025.
- Applications made before that time are still being decided, and GOV.UK says a decision should come within 12 months.
- The Immigration Rules say anyone else must apply under Appendix FM, the standard family visa route.
- That route charges a fee, unlike family reunion, though a fee waiver can be applied for.
- GOV.UK publishes no reopening date and no replacement route.
At 3pm on 4 September 2025 the refugee family reunion route stopped accepting new applications. The Immigration Rules appendix that ran it is marked closed pending a review, and GOV.UK now tells sponsors that their partner or child cannot apply through family reunion. Applications made before that time are still being decided under the old rules. Anyone else must use the standard family visa route, which charges a fee and applies its own requirements.
What GOV.UK Says Today
The family reunion section of the GOV.UK settlement guide for people with refugee status or humanitarian protection now reads: “Your partner or child cannot apply to join you in the UK through family reunion. Applications are no longer being accepted.”
The rule behind that sentence is Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection) of the Immigration Rules, which carries the line: “This Appendix, also known as refugee family reunion, is now closed to new applications pending a review.” The closing time was 3pm on 4 September 2025.
You can read both for yourself on the GOV.UK family reunion page and in Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection).
Applications Made Before the Route Closed
An application that was already in the system is not cancelled. GOV.UK says that if your partner or child applied before 3pm on 4 September 2025, their application will still be processed, and that they should get a decision within 12 months.
The Immigration Rules put it this way at paragraph FRP 11.1: applications made before 1500 on 4 September 2025 by a partner or child of a person with protection status will be decided under the family reunion rules in force on that date. So the requirements those applications are measured against are the old ones, not the family visa rules.
What the Route Was, While It Was Open
This matters for two groups: people whose application is still waiting for a decision, and people trying to understand what changed. While refugee family reunion was open, a person recognised as a refugee or granted humanitarian protection could sponsor a partner and children under 18. There was no application fee, no immigration health surcharge, no minimum income requirement and no English language test. The relationship had to have existed before the sponsor left their country of origin.
Parents, adult children and siblings were never covered by the standard rules. That has not changed.
The Route GOV.UK Now Points To
GOV.UK says a partner or child “may be able to apply for a family visa instead”. Paragraph FRP 11.1 of the Immigration Rules is more direct: in any case other than an application made before the closing date, the partner or child of a person with protection status must apply under Appendix FM — the standard family visa route.
The Home Office’s published note on the pause states that, in line with other applications under Appendix FM, a person will need to pay the fee (or obtain a fee waiver) and meet the core requirements of the route. Those requirements are set out on the GOV.UK family visa pages and in our guides to the financial requirement and the fee waiver. They include a fee, the immigration health surcharge, an income or maintenance test and an English language requirement — none of which applied to family reunion.
The Home Office note gives the reason for the pause as pressure on local authorities and public services from a rising number of family reunion grants, and says the route is paused to allow a review of family migration policy.
What Is Not Published
Three things people ask about have no answer on GOV.UK, and this guide will not invent one:
- When the route reopens. The rules say “pending a review”. No date is published.
- What replaces it. No replacement route has been published. The only route named in the rules is Appendix FM.
- How long the review takes. Nothing on GOV.UK sets a deadline for it.
Where to Get Help
Immigration advice in the UK can only be given by a solicitor, a barrister, or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Our guide to legal aid for asylum cases covers what legal aid pays for and how to search for a provider.
For the rest of the refugee journey in the UK, see our guides to refugee status, settlement after refugee status and the path from refugee to citizen.
Questions and answers
Can I still apply for refugee family reunion?
No. GOV.UK says: 'Your partner or child cannot apply to join you in the UK through family reunion. Applications are no longer being accepted.' The route stopped taking new applications at 3pm on 4 September 2025 and the Immigration Rules appendix that ran it is marked closed pending a review.
What happens to an application made before the route closed?
GOV.UK says that if your partner or child applied before 3pm on 4 September 2025, their application will still be processed, and that they should get a decision within 12 months. The Immigration Rules say those applications are decided under the family reunion rules that were in force on that date.
Is there another way for family to join a refugee in the UK?
GOV.UK says a partner or child 'may be able to apply for a family visa instead'. The Immigration Rules say that in any case other than an application made before the closing date, the partner or child of a person with protection status must apply under Appendix FM, which is the standard family visa route. The Home Office's own note on the pause says that, in line with other applications under Appendix FM, a person will need to pay the fee (or obtain a fee waiver) and meet the core requirements of the route.
Did refugee family reunion have a fee?
No. While the route was open there was no application fee and no immigration health surcharge. The family visa route that applications must now use does charge a fee, and a fee waiver has to be applied for separately.
Has the Home Office said when the route will reopen?
The Immigration Rules describe the appendix as closed 'pending a review'. GOV.UK does not publish a reopening date, and there is no published replacement route. Nothing on GOV.UK says what the review will decide.
This guide is general information about published immigration rules. It is not advice about an individual application under s.82 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, and Rowan is not regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. Immigration rules change several times a year. For advice on a particular situation, contact an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority or an immigration solicitor. Always check GOV.UK for the authoritative current rules.