Legal briefing on the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK September 2025 4.1.1. Family reunification for Palestinians with refugee status or humanitarian protection In the UK, Palestinians granted refugee status or humanitarian protection can sponsor certain family members to join them, without the family member needing to provide proof of identity.154 However, Palestinians whose family members are based in Gaza face specific challenges in accessing family reunification. Firstly, they may be unable to provide biometric information, which is required before substantive consideration of an application for entry clearance into the UK, due to the ongoing conflict and dire conditions in Gaza. The 2024 case, RM and others, WM and Others v SSHD has resolved this issue to some extent.155 This case concerned two Palestinian families who were internally displaced in Gaza seeking to apply for entry clearance to the UK to join their family members there. The applicants were refused predetermination of their application on the basis of their inability to provide the required biometric information, despite the absence of a functioning Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Gaza. The Court held that such a requirement is incompatible with Article 8 ECHR as it ‘amounts to a limitation that only applicants with extraordinary, and therefore rare, unique or unusual circumstances can succeed’.156 Further, the Court ruled that the refusal of the Home Office to pre-determine the applications without biometric data had effectively put an end to their applications without consideration. This was a disproportionate interference with the applicants’ and the sponsors’ right to family life, and the sponsor’s right to private life due to the significant impact of the current situation on their mental health, under Article 8 ECHR.157 In certain circumstances, Palestinians have been successful in securing family reunion on the basis of a human rights claim under Article 8 ECHR. The 2025 case IA et al. v Secretary of State for the Home Department concerned applications by a stateless Palestinian man and his family residing in Gaza to join his brother, a British citizen, in the UK. The appellants had submitted a collective application for entry clearance outside the immigration rules on the basis of the particularly dire circumstances for the appellants in Gaza. The SSHD had rejected this application on the basis that it lacked compelling, compassionate circumstances to justify granting leave outside the Immigration Rules.158 Upon appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, the court held that the right to private and family life under Article 8 ECHR had been engaged, but that the interference with this right by way of the respondent’s decision to refuse entry was not disproportionate to the public interest considerations at play, with particular weight being given to the purposeful exclusion of Palestinian applicants from resettlement programmes in the UK.159 On appeal to the Upper Tribunal, the appeal was allowed, with the Upper Tribunal holding that on the particular facts of these cases the SSHD’s decision did not strike a fair balance between the interests of the appellants and those of the public, and that compelling and exceptional circumstances were present.160 Article 8 claims are 154 At the time of writing this briefing, conditions for sponsoring family members on the basis of protection status were provided for in Immigration Rules Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection); Appendix Child Relative (Sponsors with Protection); and Appendix FM: Family Members. However, as of 4 September 2025, the refugee family reunion route (Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection)) was closed to new applications pending a review of the policy. See UK Home Office, Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 1298 (4 September 2025); and an analysis in Free Movement, ‘Refugee family reunion route closed in statement of changes: HC 1298’ by Sonia Lenegan (4 September 2025). On the exemption of the requirement to provide proof of identity, see Immigration Rules Part 1, S 34(5)(c)(vi). 155 UK Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), RM and Others, WM and others v. SSHD, judicial review no. LON-000082 (8 April 2024). See also UK Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), HS and Others v. SSHD, judicial review no. LON000457 (29 April 2024) paras 75-76; UK Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), AK and Others v. SSHD, judicial review no. LON-000689 (18 April 2024). 156 RM and Others (fn 155) paras 19, 90-93, 143. 157 ibid, paras 167-170, 174-176. 158 UK Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), IA et al. v. SSHD, case no. UI-2024-005295 et al (13 January 2025) para 5. 159 ibid, paras 7-17. 160 ibid, paras 182-183 32