Home Office's 'automatic deletion' of Gazan Refugee Family Reunion Application Prevented by Duncan Lewis (27 April 2026)

The High Court has ordered the Home Secretary to retain and not treat as void a family’s Refugee Family Reunion application following a challenge by Duncan Lewis Solicitors.

The Home Office will now have to await the outcome of a judicial review challenging the Home Office’s ‘Unsafe Journeys Guidance’.

This claim has been brought by a Palestinian family who applied to join a family member in the UK under the Refugee Family Reunion route, prior to the then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s indefinite pause of this route on September  4, 2025.

As part of the application, the sponsor also sought a biometric exemption for his family in Gaza. This was on the basis that the biometric enrolment centre in the Gaza Strip was closed, and it was practically impossible for his family to leave Gaza to attend an alternative centre without consular support. This request was refused by the Home Secretary.

However, in an out of hours interim relief hearing in the High Court in April, Mr Justice Griffiths recorded the Home Secretary’s concession, upon being pressed, that our clients’ family reunion applications could be retained on the Home Office’s computer system. This was in spite of statements to the contrary in pre-action correspondence and her Unsafe Journeys Guidance.

Without biometric waiver, the claimants were confronted by the Home Office’s strict 240-day biometric enrolment deadline. If applicants fail to enrol biometrics within that timeframe, their applications are automatically deleted, voided and Home Office caseworkers are directed to refuse the applications. Prior to the suspension of the Refugee Family Reunion route, this deletion was frustrating but not fatal as applicants could re-submit their applications. Post September 4, 2025 there is no remedy available.

That means that once applications under the withdrawn Refugee Family Reunion Policy are automatically deleted and voided after 240 days, if no biometrics are enrolled, with no way back onto a policy now withdrawn. That is potentially fatal in real life for many in Gaza, one of the most vulnerable populations in the world, still, right now, facing widespread child malnutrition as well as carrying significant injuries and psychological trauma.

Despite simply and repeatedly seeking the preservation of their family reunion applications, the Home Secretary refused to do so, indeed arguing that the matter was out of her hands, only to concede during the out of hours hearing that she could in fact provide a ‘work around’ that would avoid this fatal outcome for our clients’ applications.

This interim relief order is an enormous win for the present Claimants. However, there are many more individuals facing the same deletion of their Refugee Family Reunion applications. This claim continues as it challenges the lawfulness of the Unsafe Journeys Guidance, which not only fails to account for the consequences of the suspension of Refugee Family Reunion but also directly contradicts the concessions made by the Home Secretary in this Claim.

For advice in relation to similar Refugee Family Reunion application matters, please contact Gina Skandari and Kristen Allison at GinaSk@duncanlewis.com and KristenA@duncanlewis.com.

The team working on this challenge consists of Gina Skandari, Kristen Allison, Susannah Eley and Ilana Thurgood under the guidance of director Toufique Hossain. Toufique is the only solicitor ranked as leading in all of these three areas (Immigration: Human Rights, Administrative and Public law, Civil Liberties and Human Rights) in the Legal 500 guide. Counsel instructed is Raza Halim, of Garden Court Chambers.

About Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is one of the UK’s leading legal aid providers, which is multi award-winning and renowned for its exceptional legal services and commitment to justice. The company employs a team of highly skilled solicitors offering top-tier representation in 25 fields of law, and ranked as top tier by the Chambers and the Legal 500 legal guides, and as one of the top 250 law firms in the country by the Times. Duncan Lewis was crowned Law Firm of the Year at the Modern Law Awards 2023, further establishing its credentials as one of the leading law firms in the UK.

The firm’s Immigration and Public Law team is particularly renowned for handling complex and high profile cases involving human rights and asylum seekers. With landmark successes in cases such as Brook House, the Rwanda Challenge, and Manston House, Duncan Lewis continues to provide unparalleled legal representation, ensuring justice for the most vulnerable.