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 to be reunited with his sick elderly parents and sister in the UK has accepted they will become a significant « burden on the NHS. » The unnamed 26-year-old was granted five years’ leave to remain in the UK as a refugee in 2023, claiming he was in a relationship 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 her and threatened to kill him too, so he fled Afghanistan. This left his parents, aged 69 and 61, and sister, 32, at risk of reprisals. Now, despite none of them speaking a word of English, an immigration judge has ruled they can come to the UK too and all be reunited allowing their appeal on Article 8 ECHR family life grounds. All the family were granted legal anonymity.

Yet Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge Bijan Hoshi has also accepted that his ruling could come at a huge cost to UK taxpayers, as all three have serious medical conditions and will be a « burden on the NHS. »

The immigration judge said: « I acknowledge that the inevitable and likely significant costs to the NHS are a public interest factor weighing against (the family members). Of course, the UK cannot be the hospital of the world. »

Explaining why he allowed them to come to the UK the judge added: « The family life relationships are very long-standing and deeply entrenched and involved cohabitation as a single family unit until the sponsor (the son) was required to flee Afghanistan to avoid persecution. »

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

When they discovered the relationship, the woman’s family killed her and threatened to kill him, so he fled Afghanistan.

His parents and sister have claimed to be at risk from the Taliban because of their association with him. But they also had serious medical conditions.

The Home Office conceded the likely costs of NHS treatment were not a relevant consideration for assessing whether the sponsor could adequately accommodate and maintain his family without recourse to public funds.

An immigration tribunal heard the parents and daughter needed « complex medical intervention and ongoing care due to their poor health, physical and mental. »

Remaining in Afghanistan was potentially extremely dangerous for them and the son couldn’t be expected to return there.

The judge said: « The inevitable and likely significant costs to the NHS are a public interest factor. »

But he added: « Having carefully weighed all of the public interest factors weighing against the respondents (family members) against all of the factors weighing in their favour, I have come to the conclusion that this is a clear-cut case.

« I am satisfied that the refusal of entry clearance would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the (family). The appeal is allowed on Article 8 ECHR grounds. »

Recent figures have revealed that by the end of 2025 there were still 7.29 million patients waiting for treatments such as knee and hip operations – however that is the lowest number since February 2023.

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

More than 71,500 patients spent longer than 12 hours in January 2026 waiting for a bed on the ward once they had been assessed by A&E staff – the highest figure since it started being tracked in 2010.

It means nearly one in five patients who were admitted after attending A&E waited that long.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said last month that while there had been good progress, there were some big challenges to overcome, adding: « There is much more to do. We’ve got to pick up the pace…but the NHS is on the road to recovery. »