E.R.
?
C.
Final Act of the Conference that adopted the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees urged all governments to observe the principle of family unity in refugee cases and we have always tried to follow this principle sympathetically; but now with some 19,000 Vietnamese refugees already resident in the United Kingdom we simply cannot accept all the relatives even all the close relatives of those who are already here; and the current criteria, introduced in July 1981 and applied to all refugees regardless of nationality, are that we will normally agree to the entry of the spouse and minor children of the refugee. We do look carefully on a case by case basis at all applications, but can agree to the admission of other relatives only where there are exceptional circumstances.
9. Miss Bui has applied twice through the British Refugee Council for her relatives to come to this country. Those applications were refused as her relatives did not meet the criteria which I
have outlined to the House. The hon. Member wrote to me in January 1984 on behalf of Miss Bui and in my reply in April 1984 I maintained the earlier decisions to refuse the applications. Neither the circumstances of the case were such as to justify their admission to the United Kingdom on an exceptional basis.
10. Miss Bui's relatives do not qualify to come to the United Kingdom under normal provisions of the Immigration Rules as dependent relatives as they are both under 65 years of age and are not wholly or mainly dependent on Miss Bui and her sister, although I understand that they do receive some support from them. And it is doubtful whether, if the relatives were to arrive in this country Miss Bui and her sister would be able to support and accommodate them.
11. I have every sympathy with Miss Bui's wish to be reunited with
her relatives, but the sad fact is that her parents and four brothers and sisters do not meet the criteria for family reunions. The father is aged 62, the mother 57, while the three brothers are 20, 18 and 10 and the sister is 8. Having said that, I can assure the hon. Member that my mind is not closed on this matter. There have been two developments since I last wrote to him about
the case.