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Resettlement & Other Pathways to Safety / Family Reunification
For separated family members who are lucky enough to trace the whereabouts of lost family members, they often remain separated by international borders and restrictive immigration laws.
Oftentimes, they lack access to reliable, accurate information on their options to pursue family reunification through safe and legal pathways. As a result, countless refugees, discouraged by the enormous hurdles preventing reunification, decide to move on with the assistance of smugglers, often risking human trafficking, violence, detention, and possibly death.
We work simultaneously on direct services, field building, and systems change to help more refugees reunite with their loved ones.
Providing direct support to refugees.
The main objective of RefugePoint’s Family Reunification Initiative is to establish proactive, standardized systems for identifying and referring eligible refugees for family reunification—especially unaccompanied children—in all countries of asylum globally. Through the UNHCR Collaboration Project (UNCP), RefugePoint deploys Experts in various locations around the world to support family reunification cases.
RefugePoint Family Reunification staff in Kenya conduct direct casework to increase access to family reunification for refugees. This includes conducting case management, identifying refugees separated from loved ones, completing best interest assessments and determinations for unaccompanied children, providing timely interventions such as referrals to partners to address protection-related needs and legal service needs, and supporting refugees until they are able to depart. This casework allows refugees to be reunited with their loved ones through safe, organized, and legal pathways. Additionally, we work to ensure refugees have access to reliable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and pursue their legal rights to family reunification.
Supporting other organizations to expand programs to reach more refugees.
RefugePoint’s Family Reunification Experts help establish family reunification at the local level by developing the tools, systems, and structures necessary to institutionalize family reunification in countries of asylum, and providing training and capacity-building to other organizations to expand access to family reunification.
Through our Family Reunification Initiative, RefugePoint supports and equips partners in order to increase capacity and improve technical expertise to identify and refer family reunification cases, with a focus on mobilizing Refugee-Led Organizations (RLOs) engaged in this work.
Influencing policy and decision-makers to drive large-scale change.
To reunite the thousands of refugees who have been separated from their families, global systems change is necessary. RefugePoint plays a leading role in global policy conversations related to family reunification. In collaboration with UNHCR, RefugePoint spearheaded the creation of the Global Family Reunification Network (FRUN), the first global platform devoted to family reunification for refugees and currently hosts and staffs the FRUN secretariat. The Global FRUN draws together key stakeholders, experts and academics to promote and facilitate greater access to family reunification globally. We have also deployed Experts to critical policy positions in UNHCR’s Europe Bureau and their Germany operation.
The main objective of RefugePoint’s Family Reunification Initiative is to establish proactive, standardized systems for identifying and referring eligible refugees for family reunification—especially unaccompanied children—in all countries of asylum globally. Through the UNHCR Collaboration Project (UNCP), RefugePoint deploys Experts in various locations around the world to support family reunification cases.
RefugePoint Family Reunification staff in Kenya conduct direct casework to increase access to family reunification for refugees. This includes conducting case management, identifying refugees separated from loved ones, completing best interest assessments and determinations for unaccompanied children, providing timely interventions such as referrals to partners to address protection-related needs and legal service needs, and supporting refugees until they are able to depart. This casework allows refugees to be reunited with their loved ones through safe, organized, and legal pathways. Additionally, we work to ensure refugees have access to reliable information that empowers them to make informed decisions and pursue their legal rights to family reunification.
“I have no words to explain how excited I am. My daughter has never seen me in real life, and we only see each other when I call on video. I can’t wait to meet my daughter. To hold her in my arms for the first time even though she’s six years old and going to school.”
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Are you a refugee seeking to reunite with your family members? Please explore our FAQs below.
RefugePoint’s Family Reunification Navigation Assistance Program in Kenya is pleased to invite requests for assistance from refugees in Kenya seeking to reunite with their parent(s), spouse, adult child(ren), or sibling(s) who reside in destination/third countries. Third countries means countries that are outside of Kenya that are not the country of origin for the refugees who are seeking reunification. Third countries include countries where loved ones have been resettled or secured a durable solution through education, labor mobility, or sponsorship pathways.
RefugePoint will assist eligible refugees in exploring family reunification visa options, provide information regarding reunification or other complementary pathways opportunities, and help eligible applicants navigate the process of completing the necessary paperwork and processing steps. This may include providing guidance and/or referrals to connect refugees to legal service providers where needed. Refugees in Kenya and their parent(s), spouse, adult child(ren), or sibling(s) abroad will need to meet the legal criteria for the visa programs offered by the destination/third countries.
PLEASE NOTE: This is *not* a new pathway for family reunification. RefugePoint will merely help refugees in Kenya understand their legal rights and navigate existing visa pathways offered by destination/third countries. Refugees may also apply on their own for these existing visa pathways.
Refugees in Kenya with the following family members in destination/third countries are invited to send requests for navigation assistance:
Refugees in Kenya meeting the above requirements are invited to send requests for assistance in receiving family reunification navigation support to familyreunification@refugepoint.orgPlease provide the following information, and attach the requested documents:
The information refugees share with requests for assistance sent to familyreunification@refugepoint.org will be used by RefugePoint to screen cases and determine which requests require which assistance. The data and documents shared with RefugePoint will be stored securely, and will only be shared internally within RefugePoint if necessary. If there is need for the information to be shared externally, then RefugePoint will seek verbal or written consent from the client first.
If the request for family reunification navigation assistance appears to potentially meet eligibility requirements for an existing visa pathway, a staff member of RefugePoint will contact you. Please be patient as demand for these services is expected to be high. Please do not send multiple requests for the same case. If a viable visa route is identified, the visa application requirements will vary, and will be determined by the visa programs available for family reunification to the destination/third country. RefugePoint does not set or control these requirements. Processing timelines by the destination country will also vary, and will depend on many factors: the speed of application filing by the anchor/host relative in the destination country, the pace of the government’s review and approval/denial of the application (considering any application backlogs), and the speed in completing other required processing steps. Typically, successful visa applications can take from many months up to several years. RefugePoint does not set or control processing timelines.
Please be informed that RefugePoint does not charge for its services, and will not accept any money, gifts or other compensation in exchange for its services. An offer of money, gifts or favors will be considered a fraud attempt and will disqualify the applicant.
While RefugePoint’s services are offered free of charge, the governments that offer visa programs may charge application fees, biometric processing fees, health screening fees, and DNA testing fees. There may also be other associated costs, such as flight costs, which are typically paid by the anchor/host relative. As part of the application process, the destination country may require the anchor/host relative to demonstrate adequate financial resources for supporting the relative reuniting with them.
RefugePoint staff will do their best to provide accurate information regarding these costs as part of the navigation assistance it provides. However, RefugePoint is unable to provide any guarantees regarding costs. It is possible that unanticipated costs may arise, or that destination/third countries may change their fees at any point in time.
In some cases, refugees in Kenya may be required to travel to Nairobi to complete interviews and other steps required for application processing. Financial assistance may be available from RefugePoint to assist with costs of related transportation and short-term accommodation, but is not guaranteed. A RefugePoint staff member will provide more information on these.
Your gift will be used to deliver lasting solutions for refugees around the world, and help them rebuild their lives in safety.
