Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL]

An amendment, tabled by Baroness Anelay of St Johns, would delete sub-paragraph (iii) from Clause 1 of the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL]. It is a supplementary amendment to the Marshalled List to be moved in Committee of the Whole House on 21 January 2025.

This is the Lords’ marshalled list of amendments to be moved in Committee for the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL], dated 15 January 2025. It mainly aims to align family reunion provisions with the Immigration Rules by limiting eligibility to spouses and children and by requiring the Secretary of State to assess local capacity, housing and services before making changes, including related cost considerations. It also adds new clauses covering age checks, health assessments, identity documentation, quarterly data reporting on recipients, an integration review, and national security safeguards, along with specific exclusions for those removed from the UK under due process in the past decade.

These are Lords amendments to the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL], listed up to 14 January 2025. They aim to tighten eligibility for family reunion (narrowing to spouses and children), require health and age checks, and add national security and public-order safeguards, including information sharing with security agencies. They also require the Secretary of State to consider local capacity before changing immigration rules and to publish quarterly, anonymised data on recipients along with an integration review.

This Lords amendment paper for the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL] lists proposed changes up to 23 December 2024, including shortening decision times (6 months to 1 month; 21 days to 3 months), expanding consultees, and requiring a medical health assessment. It also proposes new clauses: preventing grant of family reunion to those removed in the last ten years for certain grounds, mandating an age assessment within 48 hours, and establishing quarterly anonymised reporting on applicants’ origins, age, accommodation, location, cost, criminal history and status progress; plus notice of opposition to Clause 2 standing part.

This Lords amendment paper (19 December 2024) copies proposed changes to the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL] by Lord Jackson of Peterborough. It includes several Clause 1 amendments: shortening processing and decision times (6 months to 1 month; 21 days to 3 months), widening the list of bodies that may be consulted in decisions, removing the unmarried partner option, and adjusting an age-related provision from 25 to 21, plus adding references to border security and specific agencies; and requiring a medical health assessment before approval. It also adds a new clause after Clause 2 to prohibit granting family reunion status to anyone removed from the UK in the last ten years for certain grounds (breach of immigration conditions, overstaying, illegal entry, criminal convictions, or not being conducive to the public good).

This Lords’ running list (up to 18 December 2024) shows amendments proposed to the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL], mainly to Clause 1. The changes would remove “unmarried partner” from eligibility, require noting border security as an important factor, and add a new provision allowing intelligence or information from a list of agencies (such as NCA, Coastguard, MI5, MI6, HMRC, Home Office police forces, SFO, MoD, Interpol and Frontex) to be considered in individual cases.

This Lords publication is a running list of amendments to the Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill [HL] in Committee of the Whole House, published on 4 November 2024. It records one amendment proposed by Lord Murray of Blidworth to Clause 1 to insert a new point emphasising 'the importance of maintaining a secure border', with an explanatory note that border security should be a key aspect of the Bill.

The Committee flags serious concerns about skeleton-style powers in the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill and the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, warning ministers could rewrite core regulatory regimes by regulations with limited parliamentary scrutiny. It recommends removing or tightly restricting those powers, demanding full justification (including for creating or widening criminal offences) and requesting clarifications on the rail repeal power and appropriate procedures. The report notes other private Member’s Bills raise no such concerns and calls for clearer explanations of why these delegated powers are needed.

The Refugees (Family Reunion) Bill would require the government to publish new immigration rules within six months to enable refugee family reunion, with those rules taking effect 21 days after publication. The rules would allow leave to enter or remain for family members of a person with protection status (eg refugee, humanitarian protection) including spouses, partners, and specified children or dependants, guided by family unity and the child’s best interests. The Bill also extends civil legal aid for refugee family reunion applications and sets different commencement times for its provisions across the UK.