Top military figures and politicians have called on Rishi Sunak’s government to rescue the family of a hero Afghan pilot living under the threat of the Taliban and bring them to safety in the UK.
The former air force lieutenant, who fled the regime and came to Britain across the Channel on a small boat, has been granted asylum here after a five-month-long campaign by The Independent.
But the war hero now fears for the young family left behind in Afghanistan – after being told it could take at least nine months to make a successful family reunion claim.
Supporters of the ex-pilot, who fought alongside coalition forces, are urging the Home Office to help get the family to the UK as quickly as possible – amid a barrage of criticism that the government has dragged its feet over his asylum claim.
“My focus is on my family,” he told The Independent. “This morning I spoke with my lawyer and he said once I have received my [refugee] ID then I can apply for my family to join me. But it could take time – maybe nine months. My main focus is for them.”
Lord Alf Dubs – a child refugee who fled the Nazis before the Second World War – has joined military chiefs, MPs and campaigners in their praise for The Independent’s “fantastic” campaign to win the pilot refugee status, and demanded swift action to help rescue his family.
The Labour peer added: “I fear getting family out of Afghanistan won’t be easy for him. We don’t want them to be in danger from the Taliban. Family reunion should be a high priority for the government. We need to speed up the process for him, and many others.”
Figures obtained by The Independent last month show more than 11,000 people are waiting to be reunited with loved ones in the UK – many in fear for their lives under totalitarian regimes – because of a growing Home Office backlog.
Lawyers said the target time for deciding cases had gone from 12 weeks to nine months, while some have to wait even longer. Almost 1,800 of the refugees applying for family reunion visas have been stuck in limbo for over a year.
The Independent led a five-month-campaign to get the pilot asylum in the UK— (The Independent)
Falklands war veteran Simon Weston said it was “wonderful news” that The Independent’s campaign to win the Afghan veteran asylum was successful after five months. But he called for the government to act more quickly on behalf of the pilot’s family.
“I don’t understand why it takes so long to get family members here,” he said. “We shouldn’t make it that difficult. He put so much at risk to work with us against the Taliban – himself and his family – so he deserves to be reunited with them and have some normality.”
The Afghan war hero’s loved ones now face a risky journey to Pakistan just to provide their biometric details to the British authorities for the visa application. The UK government demands the process is done in person, and there are no offices left in Afghanistan.
Rather than having to wait in limbo in Pakistan for many months, campaigners called on the government to make his family one of the exceptional cases in which biometric fingerprinting can be done once they are brought immediately to safety in the UK.
The Refugee Council, Care4Calais and other charities say the in-person process is far too arduous, arguing that the government should make online applications – currently only done in exceptional cases – far more widespread.
“Family members have to get to Pakistan or Iran at their own expense to provide details. There are very few exceptions,” said the Refugee Council’s policy manager Jonathan Featonby.
Simon Weston called on the government to speed up the process for bringing the pilot’s family to the UK— (PA/The Independent)
Alamara Khwaja Bettum, a lawyer at the Safe Passage charity, said she had applied on behalf of several Afghans to allow their family visa application to be done online. “None have been granted, even though they have had good cases that it wouldn’t be safe.”
She added: “It can be risky for family to make that journey over the border to Pakistan because most don’t have passports. We need a simpler and faster process.”
The Care4Calais group, which is supporting the pilot’s case, called for a “speedy processing” of his family reunification application. “This is a great outcome for the pilot, but it’s not the end,” the charity’s chief executive Steve Smith said.
He added: “His wife and child remain in danger in Afghanistan and steps should be taken to reunite them in the UK as soon as possible. But we also need justice for all the other Afghans who supported the UK in Afghanistan. Their claims are equally as clear cut, and should be processed immediately.”
Former justice secretary Robert Buckland told The Independent that the Home Office “needs to speed up to clear that backlog [of family reunion cases]”.
The senior Tory MP added: “We need to deal with the cases humanely and efficiently so people – some of whom have risked everything to defend us – can rebuild their lives and make a productive contribution to the UK. I wish [the pilot] well, and hope he makes a valuable contribution to our country.”
Labour MP Kevan Jones said one of his North Durham constituents – an Afghan interpreter who worked with the UK and was accepted under the Arap scheme – struggled to get his family settled in Britain.
After they got to the UK via Europe, the Home Office said in March that his mother, father, sister and brother would have to go back to Afghanistan. It took an intervention from the MP, who wrote to home secretary Suella Braverman, to remove the deportation threat.
“The system is broken,” Mr Jones told The Independent. “It’s an absolute mess. The case of the pilot you have highlighted may now be in that situation, going through a real struggle to get his family here.”
He added: “It can’t be right to make it so difficult. There has to be a joined-up approach. We owe a debt of gratitude to people who worked with us, and they should be able to have their families here. It shouldn’t take MPs to intercede to sort these problems out.”
A government spokesperson said: “The government provides a safe and legal route through its family reunion policy which enables individuals with protection status in the UK to sponsor their partner or children to stay with or join them here, provided they formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country of origin to seek protection.”
