Submission to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee Committee’s Inquiry into ‘Family Migration’

This submission to the Inquiry builds on several past and ongoing research and consultancy projects that focus on the areas of family policy in relation to international migration. We do not attempt to respond to all questions, but only those areas within our personal knowledge and expertise. In terms of geographic coverage, findings (differentiated within the text below by locality) relate to the UK-wide picture in terms of policy and reflects findings from studies undertaken across several regions (eg., Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Essex, London and Kent). Our response also includes the perspectives of UK Armed Forces veterans who currently reside in their home countries due to an inability to acquire British citizenship/the right to remain in the UK after leaving service. The key contributions and proposals in this submission relate to the following questions: i. Design of family migration law: questions 1, 2, 3. ii. How family migration policies affect society: question 6. iii. How migration policies affect families: question 7