Can I bring my partners Syrian mum and sisters to the UK?

[BA25]

war has broken out, there village is surrounded. Is there any way I can bring them here to keep them safe? My partner is crying non stop. Can I sponsor them? The rules are so confusing.

Damascus has now fallen, so let's see what the next few months bring. Assad's prime minister has spoken with the rebel leader and announced elections will be held. Fighters have been told to protect infrastructure and civilians.

Would be worried about revenge, however. Was his family in any way implicated with the Assad regime, Alawite, etc?

Are they Christian? The Christians in areas taken over have so far been treated ok.

Agree with this. People would say they have family here but unfortunately we have too many people in the U.K. from many countries already and is likely someone would already have family here.

It's funny that this thread has reached 2 pages with 152 replies so far with posters all speculating, advising, suggesting, arguing, fighting, questioning and answering themselves with more advice and suggestions, yet the OP has not posted once after the first post nor answered any relevant question.

Perhaps OP has got their answer which in summary is: 'No you can't, except under some rare circumstances with a very complicated and long process where the outcome isn't guaranteed'.

I feel so sorry for all those who are suffering the effects of war, famine etc. but our own citizens should be our first priority, before we allow even more immigration. We literally can’t help everyone and where do we draw the line? As @greenel said, “There’s millions of immigrants like me in the UK and if we all brought our families over, it would be chaos.”

I wonder how many U.K. citizens would want to allow all those affected by war, famine etc. into our country, if their admittance directly affected them? Have those, wishing to allow an undetermined number of immigrants in, actually looked at the state of our country as it is? U.K. citizens are already living on the streets, and having to use food banks to survive, never mind increasing the number of people living here!

@QueenCamilla the problem is not population density but liveable space with infrastructure- health care, jobs houses. This is the problem in the uk and is even more of a problem in the neighboring countries who are all also far poorer. We cannot expect them to bear this alone.

More generally I’m quite shocked at some of the vitriol towards a family whose lives have been blighted for years by war and now are facing acute danger and uncertainty. OP I really hope they get to safety whether that is in the UK or elsewhere.

Who is the "better" of the 2? Are the rebels harming civilians or just fighting military?

This situation has arisen becasue of the paranoia and xenophobia over immigration. We need immigrants, they are good for our country, and in this case, it sounds as though they would be legitimate refugees, but the system will do everything they can to stop them. The advice above to talk to an immigration lawyer is the best, I think.

The rebels are Islamists and though they have apparently repudiated Al Qaida, there may well be some ISIS fighters there. Erdogan seems to be supporting and possibly funding this. Civilians will get hurt and killed even if this isn't the specific intention of the rebels. It's a war zone.

Why ? The tyrant Assad has been toppled - the rebels are asking for a free and fair path to democracy, Syrians who are in exile are returning - if I was a Syrian refugee I would be back to rebuild my country rather than languishing in a camp somewhere!

They have zero chance of a tourist visa, because it's perfectly obvious that they don't have strong indicators of return. And a refusal would make it harder to get any other visa in the future.

OP it's extremely unlikely that you can do anything I'm afraid. Not with the current immigration policies.

The UN have strongly advised them not to return yet. I’m sure they don’t want to be “languishing in a camp” either. But actually 90 per cent are not in camps - they are living within local host communities in neighboring countries in extreme poverty with little access to livelihoods and receiving a pittance through UNHCR. But let’s not let facts get in the way.

Seems a changing situation op I'd wait as just hearing many are returning

I read somewhere that lots of refugees in Turkey cannot get citizenship. The idea is they go back from when they came, as soon as they can. Simon Reeves did an interesting programme on the refugee camps. Lots of EU money, not Turkish, funding the camps, but only Turkey’s flag flying. Of course, they think Turkey are providing then with the infrastructure, food, schooling, healthcare.

I don’t know who this article is by, or how dependable it is. However, they say

“Thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey fear they could be stripped of their Turkish citizenship amid rumours that the process has already happened to 5,000 Syrians.”

“Unconfirmed reports stated that lists of those whose citizenship is due to be withdrawn will be released in the coming days or weeks, and will include multiple nationalities, not just Syrians.”

“While there has been no official word on the claims, the report has sparked fears among Syrians with Turkish nationality amid a wave of anti-refugee sentiment in Turkey.”

“After the current Turkish government was formed following elections in mid-2023, a campaign to deport Syrians has been underway with President Tayyip Erdogan pledging to "voluntarily" return one million Syrian refugees to their country.”

“Syrians represent the largest group of refugees in Turkey and since Erdogan's re-election, tens of thousands have reportedly been forcibly returned to northern Syria.”

https://www.newarab.com/news/thousands-syrians-turkey-fear-citizenship-withdrawal

So, I don’t think it is as simple, or as rosy as Turkey taking in refugees who can get citizenship, and build a forever life there.

Turkish law does not grant refugees the right to settle down and claim asylum in Turkey long term and obtain Turkish citizenship. They can stay indefinitely on their international protection status.

Also, citizens from Syria have a separate asylum procedure known as temporary protection policy. They are not given the option of making an international protection application in Turkey.

https://www.mhd.org.tr/images/yayinlar/MHM-14.pdf

I don’t know who this org is, but it chimes with a couple of programmes I’ve seen on refugees in Turkey. I’m not sure how those who gained citizenship did achieve it, but obviously it is easily enough revoked, or the political atmosphere makes it easy enough to revoke if it was granted.

With the risk of clogging this thread (sorry op), I must qualify that it appears Turkey doesn’t allow refugees, from some countries at least, to gain citizenship and settle down to build lives there.

I agree that we as a country need immigration. However, uncontrolled immigration can have a destabilizing effect on a country.

Yes but if they do this, they have to lie to UK immigration and say they're planning to go back at the end of the 6 months. And so when they make a further application they've already got form for lying to the UK authorities.

I previously worked for UK immigration and this will be an issue. Plus unlikely they'd agree to tourist visas now anyway as this will be such a clear risk.

Op - get your partner to get proper immigration advice - and from legitimate people. There are loads of both scammers and dodgy immigration lawyers who do more harm than good.

It's hard to bring in adults over 18. They have to meet 'the most serious , compassionate circumstances'. The relevant caselaw is still 'K' I believe. A disabled homeless man living on a beach and he still didn't meet the threshold.

Doesn't matter if they lied, there's no chance at all if a Syrian getting a tourist visa to the UK if they family members in the UK. No chance whatsoever.

Op is probably doing her best to help her partner & his family. She doesn't owe us a reply rn. Hopefully the thread has helped, though the unpleasant comments didn't help.
@BA25. I hope your situation is improving. You shouldn't feel you have to reply now- there is some useful advice here though. The advice to contact the Red Cross is probably one of the best.

That's basically what I said @DowntonFlabbie

Thanks so much for all the replies, just reading through now. They are Christian Syrians and we’re not married. It’s just so frightening for them.

But they've got more land than we have to build on potentially. We have not. And you do know that it's not about just letting a few in at this point. Open the door, even a little, will prompt potentially other Syrians wanting to come over here. They won't be able to even contribute to society here, with language barriers and lack of relevant skills (because let's be honest, we're talking probably about a large percentage of the refugees having very limited skills) We have enough of a drain on our NHS and housing without bringing more people here. Keir wouldn't even contemplate it. The feelings against immigration at the moment are so strong, that for him to do so would mean a further term in government after this one would not be on the cards for Labour.

In what way will the millions of Syrian immigrants benefit our country? Most obvious barrier being language. Not many employers are going to employ people who can't speak English and may have limited skill set. What do we do with them while they're learning the language and skills. Where will they be housed?

We need immigrants, but we need people who can contribute and those who have the right skills without being a drain on the British taxpayer.

According to The Telegraph 12/09/24 low skilled legal migrants cost tax payers £150,000 each.
According to Migration Watch each illegal migrant costs £400,000 over their lifetime, in 2022 illegal migrants cost 1.3 billion so all this we need migrants they are good for our country is absolute gobbledygook