18,869 family reunion visas in 2025: up 153% since pre-COVID

Every asylum grant creates a family reunion right. The numbers are compounding.

Refugee Family Reunion. The route that lets recognised refugees bring spouse and children under 18 to the UK. No income requirement. No accommodation test. Automatic entitlement on grant.

2019 (pre-COVID): 7,456 grants. 2025: 18,869 grants.

153% increase in six years.

Two things drive the surge.

More grants. The asylum backlog is being processed. More positive decisions. Each grant creates an automatic family reunion entitlement.

Higher grant rates after appeal. Home Office outcome data (Asy_D04, Dec 2025): 70 nationalities see grant rates rise after appeal, average uplift +14.1pp. More appeals succeeding. More people qualifying.

Family reunion grants are not counted in asylum statistics. Separate immigration route. But a direct consequence of the asylum system. One person granted protection in 2023 brings a spouse and two children in 2025. Three additional arrivals from one asylum decision. None appear in asylum dispersal figures.

The Home Office does not publish local authority breakdowns for family reunion. The national total is all there is.

Source: Home Office Immigration Statistics, year ending December 2025. Refugee Family Reunion entry clearance grants.