Afghan man's despair at UK delay to reunite family

An Afghan man is appealing to the UK Home Office to expedite family reunification applications for family members facing the imminent threat of being deported back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has threatened to expel thousands of Afghans, setting a deadline of March 31 for those awaiting resettlement to third countries to leave.

Mohammad Khan, who has resided in Oxfordshire since arriving in the UK in 2021, has family members who fled to neighboring Pakistan. Mr. Khan assisted British forces in finding accommodation before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, a fact he believes makes him and his family "enemies" of the current regime. The Home Office has stated they are "working to accelerate" applications submitted under the family reunion route of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

Mr. Khan's family is among those separated due to the speed and chaotic nature of the Afghan evacuation. More than three years after being separated, the 31-year-old engineer had hoped to be reunited with his wife and two young children soon after the government announced the launch of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) family reunion pathway. However, six months have passed, and Mr. Khan is still awaiting a decision from the Home Office.

Mr. Khan expressed his feelings of helplessness, explaining, "I can't do anything for my children, for my wife, and I'm disappointed with this government, we are being forgotten." While in Pakistan, his wife does not have a legal work permit, and their children are not allowed to attend school. The family fears that if they are deported back to Afghanistan, they will be targeted by the Taliban. Mr. Khan's wife anonymously told the BBC, "My daughter has no future there, maybe the Taliban will force me to bring back my husband, our lives are not safe there."

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran has been supporting Mr. Khan's case. She stated, "The delays are incredibly frustrating and not what we were led to expect, and I really urge the government to focus on getting these applications properly processed." A Freedom of Information request by the Refugee Legal Aid Project found that of the 2,511 applications received by the Home Office before its deadline last October, only 88 had been approved, and 361 had been rejected. The organization's lawyer, Freya Morgan, stated, "Every extra day that people are left in limbo, the government is failing them." She added that the government needs to clarify its timelines policy regarding when decisions will be made, how they will be communicated, and how cases will be prioritized.