Gaza family visa scheme: letter to the UK Government

To: Minister for Border Security and Asylum Dame Angela Eagle

From: Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart

I was grateful for the opportunity to meet with you and Lord Khan of Burnley on 15 October and I welcome your commitment to developing a constructive working relationship with Scottish Government and other devolved administrations.  

I am writing to you regarding our deep concern about the situation in Gaza. More than a year into this horrific war which has claimed the lives of over 43,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, there is little to suggest any improvement in the humanitarian crisis on the ground. 

The situation in Gaza is nothing short of a catastrophe: medical facilities, schools, shelters and food distribution centres have been destroyed and lifesaving aid is being systematically blocked leading to widespread starvation across the region. Given the intolerable suffering in Gaza, the fact that humanitarian access continues to be systematically blocked in contravention of international humanitarian law is unconscionable.  

Scottish Government has been clear from the start of the war that it supports an immediate ceasefire by all sides, and I would like to reiterate that along with repeating our calls for unimpeded humanitarian access, and an end of UK arms sales to Israel.  

The First Minister and I have recently met with representatives of the Gaza Families Reunited campaign. We support their calls for a Gaza Family Visa scheme, modelled on the Ukraine Family Visa Scheme to be established and ask you to consider establishing a bespoke scheme to meet this urgent need. This would enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their immediate and extended family members in the UK. Far from offering a permanent route to resettlement, this would provide temporary sanctuary until it is safe for people to return.  

Existing routes for Palestinians in Gaza to join their loved ones in the UK are insufficient and failing. Notwithstanding the closure of the only Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Gaza, the Home Office continues to require Palestinian visa applications to enrol biometrics (e.g. have their fingerprints taken). While there is a provision to request a deferral of biometric enrolment requirements, it is our understanding that every request for biometric deferral and predetermination since 7 October 2023 has been rejected. At least two Palestinians have died while waiting for the Home Office to decide on their applications.  

Members of the campaign report that many Palestinian families - including those who would be eligible under existing routes - have not been able to access FCDO assistance in seeking to exit Gaza. This has left Palestinians in the UK with no choice other than to pay or crowdfund for the high ‘coordination fees’ being charged by an Egyptian travel company to facilitate their loved ones’ exit from Gaza, so that they could enrol biometrics at a VAC in Egypt. Since May 2024, when the Rafah crossing was closed, very few Palestinians have been able to secure passage out of Gaza. 

We understand that once Palestinians from Gaza cross over to Egypt, they are trapped in limbo - waiting months to join their loved ones in the UK if they are eligible (and with no hope of doing so if they are not). They are left without any status and are denied access to state support, education, healthcare, and the ability to work. 

The campaign therefore also calls on the Home Office to work with the FCDO to provide consular assistance to those seeking to access existing schemes to exit Gaza into Egypt, as well as defer biometric requirements. 

The campaign is supported by 350 Palestinian families residing in the UK, 75 charities and law firms, and over 103,800 members of the British public. The need for a Gaza Family Scheme was debated in Parliament in May 2024, and the then Shadow Minister for Immigration Stephen Kinnock recognised the need to make a family scheme operational, and he made four requests of the then Government: 

1. Defer the biometrics requirements for those who are eligible for family reunion but cannot physically get out of Gaza.
2. Operate a scheme whereby individuals in Gaza can have their family reunion visas assessed either online or by telephone and approved in principle before being assisted to leave Gaza.
3. The FCDO to work urgently to ensure that all those who hold UK visas or are eligible for family reunion, but must leave Gaza to submit biometrics, are assisted to leave.
4. The Home Office and FCDO to look urgently at wider obstacles to family reunion for the family members of British citizens and residents who are trapped in Gaza.

This rightly identifies the issues that need to be addressed, and I would be grateful for an update from you on what measures your department is taking to progress these.   

Scotland has a long history of welcoming people who are fleeing war and persecution, and I hope we can work together to apply some of the lessons from the Ukraine Family Visa Scheme to provide support for Palestinian families in their time of extreme suffering. 

I am happy to provide any further information that would be helpful for you in considering these issues and look forward to your response.