Hi everyone,

I am fundraising for a girl who is a refugee in England. She is someone who I have been lucky enough to mentor and be a friend of since 2020.

She escaped Eritrea when she was just 14 years old, and became a refugee in England in 2019. Her father also escaped Eritrea before her, and became a refugee in England this year.

Her mother and two sisters, as of two weeks ago, managed to flee their home in Eritrea and are now in a neighboring country. I am trying desperately to reunite her and her mother and sisters, through family reunification.

For those of you who might not be familiar with this, family reunification has long been recognised as a fundamental legal right, rooted in the principle of maintaining the family unit. This right is protected under international law and other binding regional instruments. In line with these obligations, the UK incorporated family reunification procedures into its domestic framework through the Immigration Rules (Part 11), which enabled refugees and beneficiaries of humanitarian protection to sponsor applications for their immediate family members (spouses, partners, and children under 18) to join them in the UK.

However, on 4 September 2025 the Home Office closed refugee family reunification applications, stating that the Immigration Rules would be revised. The suspension is open-ended, with no indication of when — or if — the route will reopen. The announcement of the closure happened the day before closing.

As Luwam's mother and two sisters have been in Eritrea, we have been unable to submit applications. They only managed to escape last week and I only found out about the closing of the applications the day before.

On the day the applications where meant to shut, I managed to submit three separate family reunification applications on their behalf before the 3pm deadline - with evidence and further supporting documents to be submitted later.

The law firm who had previously helped her dad with his asylum application, Luqmani Thompson, has no capacity under legal aid and every other firm I have reached out to also cannot take this case on, due the amount of applications that were trying to be submitted before the closure of the applications. This leaves the only option being to self-fund and I am desperately trying to raise the funds for her.

Luqmani Thompson have given her a rough estimate of around £6000 in total (up to £3000 + VAT for legal fees and + additional costs such as DNA testing, TB tests etc). This could be more depending on how complex the application is.

Luwam has become a sister to me. She is one of the bravest and most resilient young women I know. She deserves the chance to have her mother and sisters by her side, and her dad, his wife and children all safe and together again.

Every donation — no matter how small — is so greatly appreciated.

All money will go directly towards covering the legal costs to reunite her with her family.

Anyone who donates, I can send an itemised breakdown of the legal costs and bills so you can see exactly where the money is going to.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I ask you to give whatever you can to help reunite this family. Your kindness will change their lives forever. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

With the biggest love and appreciation,

Olivia