JOINT COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM
FAMILY REUNIONS
NOTE BY HOME OFFICE, IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY DEPARTI
ANITILITI
Some family reunion applications are straightforward but others can be complex and require time consuming enquiries creating uncertainty for the parties concerned. This note sets out the criteria at present applied by the Immigration Department to applications for family reunion visas and explains the special considerations and policy which applies where the relatives concerned are in Vietnam. It is hoped that this information will be helpful to the voluntary agencies in enabling them to advise people here whether a particular application stands any chance of success.
DEGREE OF RELATIONSHIP
The following relationships will normally qualify for the authorisation of a family reunion visa:-
wives
husbands
unmarried children under 21
unmarried brothers and sisters under 21
parents
Those falling outside those specified relationships will only be accepted where there are exceptional compassionate features; where it is felt that such features exist the application should contain full details.
Where any of the close relatives listed above are already resettled outside Vietnam the family would be expected to reunite in the country in which the head of the family is settled.
It is stressed that these criteria apply only to those who came here &D refugeen in their own right. We would not normally entertain applications from those who themselves came here for family reunion (ie reunion of reunions).
FELATIVES STILL IN VIETNAM
We have athorised family reunion vicus for more than 1500 persons who are still in Victon; less than a 100 have come here. While the Vietnamese government pursues its present policy of restricting exits we shall not consider further applications for family reunion where the relative is in Vietnaa.
This po`cy