Latest news with #AfghanCitizensResettlementScheme
The Independent
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘I worked for the British in Kabul embassy for 18 years. Let me reunite with my sons'
A security guard who worked for the British embassy in Kabul for almost two decades is calling on the Home Office to help him reunite his family after he was evacuated during the Taliban takeover, but his two eldest sons were forced to stay. Hamidullah Fahim and his wife Zaghona were brought to the UK with two young children in December 2023, on a dedicated scheme for employees of the British Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. However he couldn't bring his two eldest sons, who are now 21 and 22, because they are over the age of 18. Mr Fahim is now pleading with the Home Office to be reunited with them in the UK. Though the family applied for Najibullah and Hasibullah to be evacuated to the UK from Afghanistan, where they currently live with their grandmother, their applications have been rejected twice by officials. Mr Fahim said that while the family tries to speak to the two eldest sons regularly on the phone, it has been hard to be apart. 'It has affected them and us both. We want to do whatever we can to be reunited with them and to let the Home Office know of the injustice that has been carried out in our case. 'It is especially difficult for our young children who get upset whenever we speak to them, and for my wife who is struggling a lot', he explained. His wife Zaghona is struggling to sleep, and suffers from nightmares where she sees her son being harmed, a report from a social worker found. She can be withdrawn from the family and is often tearful, according to the assessment. Before the Taliban takeover, Hasibullah and Najibullah never lived independently and were dependent on their parents. Their parents and two young siblings, aged 13 and 15, were evacuated to Pakistan in early 2023 and left the eldest sons behind in the hope that when they got to the UK they would be able to apply for reunification. The family of six, including the eldest sons, were told to come to Kabul airport during the chaos of the 2021 evacuation, along with hundreds of other GardaWorld staff who had worked at the British embassy, with the view that they would all be brought to the UK. However, they were told to leave the airport after a suicide bomb blast prevented their evacuation. They were then moved on to the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), which didn't include Najibullah and Hasibullah. Mr Fahim worked as a security guard at the British embassy in Kabul from 2004 to 2021 and therefore qualified for pathway three of this scheme. Under the terms of the scheme, an eligible person can only bring children under 18 with them to the UK. The Foreign Office, who run pathway three of this scheme, offered the family the chance to submit a separate application for their two eldest sons but Mr Fahim's attempts to take advantage of this have not been successful, compounded by the fact that the family don't speak English. Nick Beales, from charity Ramfel who are supporting the family, said that the father had 'persistently sought to communicate with the FCDO about sponsoring his children to relocate to the UK, but when these avenues hit a brick wall they had to proceed with making an application to the Home Office'. In the UK, the family do not have refugee status and therefore are not normally eligible to sponsor family members under the Refugee Family Reunion policy. Their applications have so far been rejected twice by the Home Office. One of the older sons, Najibullah, said: 'Before our parents left we had a good life, we used to study and go to school... but currently we are not studying and we don't have money to do that. When they left, I was extremely upset, I became very unwell and they gave me IV fluids, but I have hope that in future things will get better and we will be able to reunite with our parents.' Masuda, who is 15, said that she dreams that she will be reunited with her brothers one day. She explained to a social worker: 'In Afghanistan we used to make a slide out of the snow – we used to play together, it was so fun. 'It's not good being separated especially when I see my mum crying. It affects her quite a lot.' Mr Beales, from Ramfel, added: 'The Fahim family were promised safety in the UK after their 18 years of service to the British Embassy, but the British government have instead abandoned them. At Ramfel, we see time and again how families on the Arap and Acrs schemes are denied family reunification, despite successive governments repeatedly falsely claiming that Afghans can safely reach the UK. The government's new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill does nothing to address these failures, and focuses exclusively on yet more so-called deterrence measures. New immigration legislation should instead look at expanding safe routes so that families can swiftly reunite and rebuild their lives in the UK.' A Home Office spokesperson said: 'It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.'
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Northallerton Afghan refugees to run pop-up restaurant
A family who fled Afghanistan to Northallerton during the Taliban's resurgence are running a pop-up restaurant to showcase Afghan cuisine and say thanks to their Rahimi worked as an interpreter with the UK Armed Forces and left the country in 2021 with his wife Nelab and their four family moved to North Yorkshire in 2023 after the government granted them sanctuary Rahimi said: "We are very grateful but we want to work and pay our way. I wanted to share Afghan cuisine and culture with the local community." According to North Yorkshire Council, 484 Afghans have been relocated to 97 households in the region since August 2021 under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).People being resettled under the ARAP scheme include interpreters who worked for the Armed Forces. 'Life on the line' Habib said "Living in Northallerton has been a wonderful experience. The people here are very kind and friendly, which has made it easier for us to settle. "We feel safe and the community has been supportive, especially in helping us find a home and adjust to life in England."Jonathan Spencer, who is senior resettlement officer for the council, said the authority felt it had a responsibility to support the Rahimis because they would not have been safe had they stayed in Afghanistan. "Habib really put his life on the line, quite literally, so they've really risked their lives for the UK."The pop-up restaurant will be held at Northallerton Town Hall on 19 April. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
See - Sada Elbalad
08-03-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
UN Urges UK to Welcome More Afghan Refugees
Israa Farhan The United Nations has called on the UK to increase its intake of Afghan refugees, urging the government to show greater compassion for those fleeing Taliban rule. Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, emphasized the dire circumstances Afghans face, stating that Afghans are coming because they are persecuted, and life is extremely difficult for them. Bennett, who was banned from entering Afghanistan by the Taliban last year, stressed that many refugees endured persecution during the war and continue to suffer under the regime's oppressive rule. His appeal comes nearly four years after the Taliban seized control of Kabul in 2021, following the withdrawal of Western forces led by the United States. Since then, the militant group has imposed a series of strict policies, particularly targeting women, banning them from numerous aspects of public life. In response to the crisis, the UK government pledged to resettle 20,000 Afghan refugees over five years through its Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. However, by December 2024, official figures showed that 34,940 Afghan refugees had arrived in the UK, with accommodation provided for nearly 26,000 of them. Despite this, advocates argue that more needs to be done, as thousands remain in precarious situations, either trapped under Taliban rule or stranded in refugee camps. The UN's renewed call places further pressure on Britain to expand its resettlement efforts and provide long-term support to those fleeing persecution.
BBC News
04-03-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Afghan man criticises Home Office delays to reunite family in UK
An Afghan man has urged the Home Office to fast-track applications to reunite family members who face an imminent risk of being deported back to the Taliban-led Khan has been living in Oxfordshire since being resettled in the UK after arriving in 2021, while his family escaped to neighbouring the Pakistani government is threatening to deport thousands of Afghans and has set a deadline of 31 March for those awaiting relocation to third Home Office said it was "working at pace" to process referrals made under the Separated Families Pathway of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. Mr Khan said he assisted UK forces to source accommodation before Kabul fell to the Taliban in August 2021, something he believes would make him and his family "enemies" of the current family was among those who became separated due to the speed and chaotic circumstances surrounding the evacuation of Afghanistan. After more than three years apart, the 31-year-old engineer had been hopeful he would soon be reunited with his wife and two young children after the government announced the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) separated families route would open for six months on, Mr Khan is still waiting for a Home Office said he felt powerless, explaining: "I can't do anything for my kids, for my wife, I'm feeling disappointed by this government that we are being forgotten."While in Pakistan, his wife has no legal access to work and their children are not allowed to go to school. The family fears if they are deported back to Afghanistan they will be targeted by the Taliban."There is no future for my daughter over there and maybe the Taliban would force me to bring back my husband and our life is not secure over there," Mr Khan's wife, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the BBC during a video the scheme was launched last July, Minister for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra said there was an "urgency" to reunite families who had helped the said: "It is our moral duty to ensure that families who were tragically separated are reunited and are not left at the mercy of the Taliban."Afghans did right by us and we will do right by them, ensuring our system is fair and supports those most at risk and vulnerable." 'Real and imminent risk' A freedom of information request made by Refugee Legal Support at the end of last year found that of the 2,511 applications received by the Home Office before the October deadline, only 88 had been successful and 361 had been refused."Every day that people are left in limbo, the government is failing them," said Freya Morgan, a supervising lawyer at Refugee Legal said the government needed a clear policy on the timeframe of when decisions would be made and how they would be communicated."It also needs to be clear as to how it will prioritise cases because everyone's family reunion is important but there are people who are at real and imminent risk," she Glover, Liberal Democrat MP for Didcot and Wantage, has been supporting Mr Khan's said: "The delays are very frustrating and not really what we expected so I really call on the government to focus on processing these applications properly." Most of the 30,000 Afghans who have come to the UK were evacuated in August 2021 as part of Operation were mostly British nationals, as well as people who worked with the UK in Afghanistan and their family members, who are eligible under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the UK pledged to resettle up to 20,000 vulnerable Afghans in the coming years under the 12,400 people had arrived under the scheme by the end of September Chamberlain MP, chair of the all party parliamentary group for Afghan women and girls, said: "Too many families remain separated by a slow, opaque and bureaucratic process. "Meanwhile for thousands of others, the promise of safety on our shores has never materialised, with the threat of deportation from Pakistan looming over them. *The programmes put in place three and a half years ago have simply not achieved what they intended to."She said she had written to the Home Office raising the issues and urging officials to "engage with us and our networks as soon as possible".A Home Office spokesperson said it did not routinely comment on individual added: "We are working at pace to process referrals made under the Separated Families Pathway of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and we have already begun to see arrivals and families be reunited." You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
