PALESTINIANS have been granted the right to live in the UK via a scheme originally intended for Ukrainian refugees.
A family of six seeking to flee Gaza were allowed to join their brother in Britain following an immigration judge ruling that the Home Office’s rejection of their application breached their human rights.
The family had made their application through the Ukraine Family Scheme and the decision to accept their case came despite warnings by lawyers for the Home Office that it could open the “floodgates” to those seeking asylum.
The Palestinian family, a mother, father and four children aged seven to 18, had seen their home destroyed by air strikes and were living in a Gaza refugee camp.
The family used the Ukraine Family Scheme in January 2024 on the basis that it best fitted their circumstances and that their situation was so “compelling and compassionate” that their application should be granted outside its rules.
The Ukraine Family Scheme, established in March 2022, allowed Ukrainians to come to the UK if they had a relative who was a British citizen or settled in the UK. The scheme closed February last year.
The family’s claim was initially refused by a lower-tier immigration tribunal on the basis that it was outside the Ukraine programme’s rules and that it was for Parliament to decide which countries should benefit from resettlement schemes.
Hugo Norton-Taylor, an upper tribunal judge, granted the Palestinians’ appeal, allowing them to come to the UK on the basis of their right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights Article 8.
He said the rights of the individual family, who were in an “extreme and life threatening” situation, outweighed the “public interest” of the rules on entry to the UK which were designed to limit resettlement schemes and control immigration.
The Home Office said that despite the ruling there was no resettlement scheme for people from Gaza and that it would contest similar claims in the future.
