Refugee misses chance for family reunion by minutes

Home Office paused a lifeline visa scheme last month

- HOLLY BANCROFT HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT

When Umer Heyi received news from the Home Office that he had been granted sanctuary in Britain, he was ecstatic. Caseworkers had agreed that the 28-year-old had a “well-founded fear of persecution” and could not return to his home country of Ethiopia, where he said he had been imprisoned over his support for an opposition party, the Oromo Liberation Front.

The decision meant he had a stable future in the UK, at least for the next five years. But, more importantly for Umer, it also meant the promise of safety for his wife Habiba and two-year-old son Kena, whom he believed would now be allowed to come to Britain under a government scheme to bring families together.

“If I bring them here, I will be able to protect them. If I can save my life, but I can’t protect them, then why should I live?” he says.

Yet, just hours after receiving the good news, Umer’s hope that he would one day reunite with his loved ones was snatched away. The day he received his grant of refugee status, 4 September, was also the last day that refugees could apply to bring their close family members to the UK, after a dramatic shift in policy by the government.

Eager to start the process of bringing his wife and son to the UK as soon as possible, Umer had obtained the phone number of a lawyer through an Ethiopian friend and rang it at 3.13pm. But what he didn't know was that the scheme had closed to new applications just 13 minutes earlier, at 3pm.