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Section 17: Family unity for those seeking asylum or other protection in Europe

European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 · 2018 c. 16View on legislation.gov.uk

A Minister of the Crown must, within the period of two months beginning with the day on which the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 is passed, lay before Parliament a statement of policy in relation to any future arrangements between the United Kingdom and the EU about—

unaccompanied children, who make an application for international protection to a member State, coming to the United Kingdom where it is in their best interests to join a relative who—
is a lawful resident of the United Kingdom, or
has made a protection claim which has not been decided, and
unaccompanied children in the United Kingdom, who make a protection claim, going to a member State to join a relative there in equivalent circumstances.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(i) a person is not a lawful resident of the United Kingdom if the person requires leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom but does not have it.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(ii), a protection claim is decided—

when the Secretary of State notifies the claimant of the Secretary of State's decision on the claim, unless the claimant appeals against the decision, or
if the claimant appeals against the Secretary of State's decision on the claim, when the appeal is disposed of.

In this section—

  • "application for international protection" has the meaning given by Article 2(h) of Directive 2011/95/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, for a uniform status for refugees or for persons eligible for subsidiary protection, and for the content of the protection granted;

  • "protection claim" has the same meaning as in Part 5 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (see section 82(2) of that Act);

  • "relative", in relation to an unaccompanied child, means—

    (a)a spouse or civil partner of the child or any person with whom the child has a durable relationship that is similar to marriage or civil partnership, or

    (b)a parent, grandparent, uncle, aunt, brother or sister of the child;

  • "unaccompanied child" means a person under the age of 18 ("the child") who is not in the care of a person who—

    (a)is aged 18 or over, and

    (b)by law or custom of the country or territory in which the child is present, has responsibility for caring for the child.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.