Afghan family who will be a ‘burden on the NHS’ let into UK due to ECHR law | UK | News

An immigration judge who allowed an Afghan man to be reunited with his sick, elderly parents and sister in the UK acknowledged they would become a “significant burden on the NHS”. The 26-year-old, whose name has not been released, was given permission to stay in the UK for five years as a refugee in 2023 after allegedly having an affair with a woman from a religious extremist family with ties to the Taliban.

It was claimed that when they discovered the relationship, the woman’s family killed the woman and threatened to kill her, so the woman fled Afghanistan. This left his parents, aged 69 and 61, and his sister, 32, at risk of retaliation. Now, despite neither speaking a word of English, an immigration judge has ruled that they too can come to the UK and be reunited, allowing them to appeal on Article 8 ECHR family life grounds. The entire family was granted legal anonymity.

But Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge Bijan Hoshi also acknowledged his decision could come at a huge cost to UK taxpayers as all three have serious medical conditions and would be a “burden on the NHS”.

The immigration judge said: “I accept that there is a public interest factor weighing against (family members) the inevitable and possibly significant costs to the NHS. Of course the UK cannot be the hospital of the world.”

Explaining why he allowed them to come to the UK, the judge added: “Family life relationships are very long-standing and well-established and involve living together as a single family unit until the sponsor (the son) was forced to flee Afghanistan to avoid persecution.”

His son has five years’ leave to remain in the UK as a refugee. His claim in the 2023 Refugee Convention was that he was in an unmarried romantic relationship with a woman from a religious extremist family with ties to the Taliban.

When they discovered the affair, the woman’s family killed and threatened to kill her, so she fled Afghanistan.

His parents and sister claimed they were in danger from the Taliban because of their relationship with him. But they also had serious medical conditions.

The Home Office accepted that the potential costs of NHS treatment were not a material consideration in assessing whether the sponsor could adequately accommodate his family without recourse to public funds.

The immigration court heard the parents and girls needed “complex medical intervention and ongoing care due to their poor physical and mental health.”

Staying in Afghanistan was potentially extremely dangerous for them, and his son could not be expected to return there.

The judge said: “The inevitable and possibly significant costs to the NHS are a factor of public interest.”

But he added: “Having carefully weighed all the public interest factors against the respondents (family members) against all the factors in their favour, I have concluded that this is a clear case.

“I am convinced that refusal of entry permission would lead to unjustifiably severe consequences for (the family). The appeal is accepted under Article 8 ECHR.”

Latest figures have revealed that there are still 7.29 million patients waiting for treatments such as knee and hip surgery by the end of 2025; however, this is the lowest figure since February 2023.

Meanwhile, NHS England’s monthly update in February showed long waits continued at A&E, including a record number of 12-hour tram waits.

More than 71,500 patients spent more than 12 hours waiting for a bed on the ward in January 2026 after being assessed by A&E staff; This is the highest figure since tracking began in 2010.

This means almost one in five patients admitted after going to A&E are waiting that long.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said last month that good progress had been made but there were some major challenges to overcome, adding: “There is more to do. We need to step up… but the NHS is on the road to recovery.”