Family Now Looking To Build A New Life And Future In Sheffield After Three Years Apart

A former Afghan interpreter for The British Army has been reunited with his daughter after three years following a successful legal challenge.

Originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, the dad was relocated to the UK in 2021 under the Locally Employed Staff (LES) Home Office scheme. He was considered at risk of serious harm from the Taliban as a result of his work for The British Army after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

The man’s 12-year-old daughter remained in Afghanistan with her mum, but following the death of her mum shortly after her dad was airlifted to the UK, she was left without parental support and at significant risk herself from the Taliban as a result of her status as the daughter of a former British military employee. The girl received numerous death threats and was forced to remain indoors for over two years for her own safety.

Home Office refuse request to defer daughter’s biometric data requirement

A refugee family reunion visa application was made for the girl so that she could be reunited with her dad in the UK. A request was made for her the Home Office to defer the requirement for the girl to supply her biometric data, given her dangerous situation, until after the application was provisionally determined.

The Home Office refused this request, on the basis her circumstances “were not sufficient compelling so as to outweigh the public interest considerations of protecting public safety”.

Dad asks public law and human rights lawyers to challenge lawfulness of Home Office decision

The dad, in his 30s who cannot be named for legal reasons to protect his identity, instructed specialist public law and human rights lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to challenge the lawfulness of this decision. The supply of biometric data would have involved three dangerous trips for the girl across the Afghan border to a Visa Application Centre in Pakistan or Iran, while a pre-determined application would only involve one.

Whilst this still involved a treacherous journey for the daughter, having to make one journey rather than three would have significantly reduced the risk of the daughter’s detection by the Taliban during the journey.

Home Office agree to settle the case in daughter’s favour

Lawyers at Irwin Mitchell lodged judicial review proceedings at the Administrative Court in June 2023 challenging the Home Office’s refusal to defer the requirement for daughter to provide her biometric information before her application for refugee family reunion was determined.  The Home Office agreed to settle the case in the daughter’s favour in October 2023 ahead of a final hearing in the Administrative Court, agreeing the girl had demonstrated “sufficiently compelling and exceptional circumstances to authorise that her application be pre-determined”.

Dad and daughter were finally reunited in Sheffield in March 2024, after three years apart.

Kathryn Gooding is the specialist public law and human rights lawyer at Irwin Mitchell supporting the family

Expert Opinion

“This was a very important case in which we’re happy to have played a key part in delivering a happy ending for a family torn apart. To see dad and daughter reunited is fantastic and a fitting end to a long and dangerous road for the family.

“It’s a significant victory for the family and shows how important it is for the Home Office to lawfully exercise its discretion to waive or defer the requirement to provide biometric information in these cases. This case was particularly concerning, given it centred on the fate of a young girl left alone and at increased risk of harm, following her mum’s death. The Home Office’s decision making led to dad and daughter being separated for three years.

“The need to provide biometrics later was to reduce the need for a young girl at risk to cross the Afghan border several times. A pre-determined result would mean she’d only have to undertake such a dangerous journey once.

“There was a very real fear this girl could’ve been stopped by Taliban roadblocks, detained and as a child of a former British Army employee, subject to kidnap, forced marriage, rape or death.

“We’re proud to have helped to reunite this family and supported them in beginning a new life in the safety of the UK and a happy ending to what was a very dangerous situation.” Kathryn Gooding

Dad’s story: Forced to flee Afghanistan in 2021

After dad was forced to flee Afghanistan in 2021, his daughter and her mother remained in the country. When the daughter’s mother died shortly after dad was airlifted to the UK in 2021, dad applied for a refugee family reunion visa for his daughter to join him in the UK.

After submitting an application, an applicant must attend a visa application centre to provide their biometric information, before the Home Office decides on giving entry clearance to travel to the UK.

With no application centre in Afghanistan, the girl would have needed to cross to Pakistan or Iran to attend a visa application centre to provide her biometric information, return home to wait for the result of whether her application for refugee family reunion had been successful, then cross the border a third time should her application be successful. Given the peril to her in such a journey, a request was made to the Home Office to defer biometrics, until after the application had been determined.

Dad says its ‘wonderful to see my little girl again after three years apart’

The dad said: “The last few years have been some of the hardest in all our lives. In 2021 I had to make a very quick decision on whether to leave my home. The risks if I remained in Afghanistan were made very clear to me, so I felt I had no option for myself and my family but to leave.

“Leaving my daughter behind with her mother was so difficult, made worse by news of my wife’s death and that my daughter was now alone. I knew she was in great danger and that even staying indoors for two years would not be enough to keep her safe forever.

“I knew I had to try to get my little girl out but supplying the biometric data for the visa application would be a real risk. When the Home Office agreed to approve her application in advance of the data being supplied, she only had to undertake this dangerous journey out of the country once.

“She still had to find a way to avoid Taliban checkpoints and make it across the border from Afghanistan to Iran and I felt so helpless at this point, unable to do anything but sit and wait for news. It was amazing that she had safely made it and wonderful to see my little girl again after three years apart. She’s so brave to have done this, having been through so much in her life.

“It’s going to take time to get over her mum’s death, but at least here in the UK we’ve a chance for a new life in safety. We can’t turn the clock back to our lives before the Taliban takeover in 2021 but we can try and make up for the pain of the last three years.”

Dad and daughter were represented by Kathryn Gooding of Irwin Mitchell LLP.

Counsel instructed in the judicial review proceedings were Adam Straw KC and Catherine Meredith of Doughty Street Chambers.

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in handling public law and human rights cases