Refugee family reunion closed to new applications at 15:00 on 4 September 2025 and has not reopened. There is no announced reopening date and no published replacement scheme. Families separated since then are not waiting for a queue to move — they are looking at a different set of routes entirely, each with requirements the refugee route never imposed, and each with a fee the refugee route never charged.
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Suspended, and What That Means
The refugee family reunion route allowed a person granted protection in the UK to bring their pre-flight spouse or partner and children under 18, without a fee, without an income requirement and without an English language requirement — the terms are set out in the Home Office’s family reunion guidance. That combination is what made it different from every other family route, and it is what is no longer available.
The Immigration Rules pages still describe the route as closed to new applications pending a review. That wording has not changed since the suspension, and it was still there when the Rules were last updated on 3 August 2026 — eleven months on. Anything you read suggesting a reopening in spring 2026 was an expectation reported at the time and it has not been met.
What follows is what is actually open. None of it replicates the refugee route, and being clear-eyed about that is more useful than waiting.
The Suspension: What Closed and When
The closure was made by Statement of Changes HC 1298, which provides that the changes take effect at 1500 BST on 4 September 2025. The timing matters: an application submitted before that moment falls under the old rules, and one submitted after it does not. Where a family was mid-application on the day, the date and time on the submission is the first thing to establish.
The scale explains the decision even if it does not justify it. The Home Office’s economic note records that by the end of 2024 the total number of applications was 22,677, a record, and that more than 90 per cent of those granted are women and children. The route was working as designed; the government’s concern was volume and the pressure on accommodation.
One related change compounds it. For protection claims made on or after 2 March 2026, the initial grant of permission was cut from five years to 30 months, with a carve-out preserving five years for unaccompanied children. A sponsor on a 30-month grant reaches settlement later, which pushes back the point at which some of the alternative routes below become available to their family.
Appendix FM, the Main Alternative
For a spouse, civil partner or durable partner, Appendix FM is the route that remains. It is open to a sponsor with protection status, and it asks for things the refugee route did not.
- A minimum income requirement of £29,000 under E-ECP.3.1, or savings of £16,000 plus two and a half times the shortfall. There is no longer any child element — the per-child uplifts were abolished when the threshold moved to £29,000.
- English language at A1 for entry clearance, rising to A2 at the first extension and B1 at settlement.
- A fee of £2,064 per applicant, plus the immigration health surcharge.
- A genuine and subsisting relationship, evidenced across time rather than at the date of application.
The income requirement is the obstacle for most refugee sponsors, and there is one way round it that is often missed: where the sponsor receives a specified disability or carer benefit, the financial test becomes adequate maintenance instead of £29,000. That is a narrow door but it is a real one, and it is worth checking before assuming the route is closed.
Routes for Children and Other Relatives
Children of a sponsor with protection status have their own route. Appendix Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection) has been in force since 12 April 2023 — it is not new and it did not arrive with the suspension — and its caseworker guidance was last updated on 16 July 2026. Statement of Changes HC 259 amended Part 8 to align it with that Appendix rather than creating it.
It is narrower than the refugee family reunion route it partly substitutes for, and it carries its own suitability, maintenance and accommodation requirements. But for a child seeking to join a parent with protection status it is the first place to look, ahead of Appendix FM’s child provisions.
For an elderly or disabled parent, grandparent, adult child or sibling, the route is the adult dependent relative route, and the reduced fee of £452 applies where the sponsor holds protection status. It is a demanding route — the applicant must need long-term personal care that cannot be obtained where they live even with the sponsor paying — and it should not be presented to a family as a straightforward alternative.
Exceptional Circumstances and Article 8
Where no route fits, Appendix FM has its own valve. GEN.3.2 requires the decision-maker to consider whether there are exceptional circumstances that would make refusal a breach of Article 8, because refusal would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or another affected family member.
Separation caused by flight from persecution is the kind of fact that belongs in such an application, and so is the position of a child left behind. But GEN.3.2 is a high test, decided on the individual facts, and it is not a route around the income requirement for a family that simply cannot meet it. Where the finances are the only obstacle, GEN.3.1 is the provision that allows other sources of income to be considered.
An application of this kind lives or dies on evidence about specific people rather than on the general unfairness of the position, and it is worth taking advice before filing rather than after a refusal. Our family visa solicitors can tell you whether the facts carry it.
Fees and Timings
Refugee family reunion was free. Every alternative is not, and the difference is the single biggest practical consequence of the suspension for most families. A partner application under Appendix FM costs £2,064 per applicant plus the health surcharge; the adult dependent relative route costs £452 where the sponsor holds protection status and £3,635 otherwise. Our entry clearance fee guide sets out the wider table.
Fee waivers exist and are worth pursuing where the family cannot pay. A waiver must be applied for and decided before the main application is submitted, not alongside it, and an application filed without waiting for the waiver decision is the most common avoidable error on these files.
On timing, the published service standard for a partner, a child and an adult dependent relative is 12 weeks from the biometrics appointment. Longer figures circulate and are not published by the Home Office. Where a sponsor’s own status is in question, our guide to refugee status and appeal rights covers what can put it at risk.
One planning point. The suspension has no announced end, and the routes above are available now. Waiting for a replacement scheme that has not been designed, in the hope that it will be cheaper, is a decision with a real cost attached — every month of separation is a month the alternative application was not progressing.
Frequently askedQuestions about family reunion
Is the family reunion visa still suspended?
Yes. It closed at 15:00 on 4 September 2025 under Statement of Changes HC 1298 and the Immigration Rules still describe it as closed pending review, as at the last update on 3 August 2026. No reopening date has been announced.
When will it reopen?
No date has been published. A reopening in spring 2026 was reported as an expectation when the suspension was announced; it did not happen, and nothing has replaced that expectation with a commitment.
What can I use instead?
For a partner, Appendix FM. For a child of a sponsor with protection status, Appendix Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection). For an elderly or disabled relative, the adult dependent relative route. Each is more demanding than the refugee route was.
Do I have to meet the £29,000 income requirement?
On the Appendix FM partner route, yes — unless the sponsoring partner receives a specified disability or carer benefit, in which case the adequate maintenance test applies instead.
What does it cost now?
Refugee family reunion was free. An Appendix FM partner application is £2,064 per applicant plus the health surcharge. Fee waivers are available and must be decided before the main application is submitted.
How long does a decision take?
The published standard is 12 weeks for a partner, a child or an adult dependent relative, measured from the biometrics appointment.
Does my application count if I filed before the suspension?
An application submitted before 15:00 BST on 4 September 2025 falls under the rules in force at that time. The date and time of submission is the first thing to establish if you were mid-application.
Tell us where your family are, what status you hold here and when you were separated. We'll tell you which route remains open on those facts and what it would require.
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