Refugee Family Reunion

Problem

On the 25th August 2017, a Rwandan woman came to MAGNE & CO , bearing a newspaper cutting from Uganda dated October 2015. In it there was an advertisement placed by foster carers in Kampala looking to trace the parents of a boy under their care.

“ This is my son.” She said. His eighteenth birthday, being the cut off date of any application for family reunion was at the end of September. The child did not have any identification papers but had been mentioned in the mother’s refugee application.

Strategy

In the forthcoming weeks the following was arranged:

1. Registration of the child with the police in Kampala.
2. Registration of the child’s asylum claim with the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.
3. A TB test was undertaken for the child in Uganda.
4. A DNA test for the mother was undertaken in the United Kingdom.
5. A DNA test for the child was undertaken in Kampala.
6. A statement was taken by the mother in the United Kingdom.
7. A statement was taken by the Foster Carer in Uganda.
8. A seventy seven page bundle was compiled.
9. The application form was completed and the bundle was then sent by courier to Uganda.

Solution

The application was lodged on the 22nd September. The son, now 18 has joined his mother in the United Kingdom.