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family reunion application on its merits, in line with our general practice on applications for refugee family reunion (on which we are traditionally more generous than on the admission of dependents under the normal immigration rules), or for refugee admission on grounds of other close ties with the UK. Incidentally, those accepted under these procedures would prima facie not be entitled to bring in further close relatives under the refugee family reunion heading, but would be covered by the normal immigration rules. So it is not likely that they will be able to apply successfully on behalf of subsequent blood relatives.
4. It was less clear to the meeting how you could be helped with your 'walk in' or 'write in' workload. One option might be to ask you to make no attempt to filter routine enquiries, but simply to pass them on to MVD and the Home Office unread. (This would not of course be welcome to those concerned here, who have their own staff problems). Another might be to give you some clear guidelines for filtering. The meeting supported your request for an early visit from an immigration specialist, and MVD are now seeking clearance to include Hanoi with Hong Kong and some other regional posts in such a visit (the Home Office cannot provide a visitor in the immediate future). You will hear from MVD about this shortly.
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5. On the wider policy issues, Home Office officials had already decided that it would be necessary to obtain a ministeria view soon on the implications of family reunions from Vietnam (including the question of whether they should be treated as outside the 10,000 quota) and had indeed written to us seeking an assessment of some aspects of the problem. They will now postpone their submission to take into account the results of the MVD visit which, although primarily designed to produce solutions to your administrative problems, would also provide a useful opportunity to look at the longer term aspects of the problem on the spot and compare notes with UNHCR and Hong Kong immigration officials. Home Office are particularly interested in any statistics you or UNHCR may have readily available on the number of exit permits which have been issued to visa promise letter holders, and whether any have been refused./ Operational problems could arise for us if the Vietnamese suddenly released large numbers of exit permits: among other things this could disrupt the handling of our offtake from Hong Kong. It would therefore be helpful to have from you now (in advance of this visit) an assessment of the likelihood of the present trickle of exit visas being stepped up significantly, and your advice on whether it might be possible, or advisable to seek to negotiate a phased rate of departure with the Vietnamese for those to whom we are issuing visa promise letters.
6. Later in the summer we shall also have to consult Ministers on the question of a further quota after the 10,000 quota is filled. It seems likely that it will have to take family reunion
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