When immigrants leave their birth country, family members usually stay behind or get separated during the escape from their country. When a family breaks up under these kinds of circumstances the situation can lead to poverty and sometimes a tragic situation. It can also create a roadblock to immigration integration into the destination country. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has been guided by both humanitarian and practical considerations since its inception to ensure the reunification of separated refugee families.
The significance of family reunification has been implemented in a number of international agreements. It ensures that the union of an immigrant's family is upheld, mainly in cases where the parent or guardian has fulfilled the obligatory condition for right of entry to a particular country. UNHCR considered the problem of reunification in the late 1970s and concluded that immigrant families needed their support toward reunification.
Here is a list of who the UNHCR categorizes as family:
Dependents - A dependent is an individual who depends for their survival on other person.
The nuclear family - At a minimum, there is general understanding that the nuclear family consists of husband, wife and their minor children.
Unmarried children - Many nations differentiate between minor children and those who have reached majority age.
Unaccompanied minors - Children and adolescents are in particular need of a stable family environment to ensure the development of their personal and social skills
Dependent parents and other relatives - The dependency principle compels UNHCR to promote the reuniting of dependent parents who lived with the refugee or refugee family in the country of origin, who would be left alone or destitute in the country of refuge.
These efforts are based on humanitarian guidelines, as well as the economic status of the family. UNHCR also considers other family members, such as single brothers, sisters, aunts, and cousins as potentially eligible for family reunification when it can be proven that such individuals were actually a part of the family unit in the country of origin. Due to the impact of civil conflict, persecution, or refugee flight, or when such relatives have become dependent on the core family unit, they should also be considered for family reunification.