Allow international travel to visit partners and family
This petition gathered 106,595 signatures between 5 January 2021 and 5 July 2021, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 20 April 2021. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 24 May 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Allow international travel to visit partners and family
The Government should class in-person interaction with family members and unmarried partners abroad as an essential reason to travel.
It is vital for people’s mental wellbeing. It is simply inhumane to isolate and forcibly separate people and their family/partner. There are safe ways of enabling people to travel to their family members and/or partners, so there is no reason why the UK cannot facilitate this.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 20 April 2021; the petitions site lists the Department for Transport as responsible. Its summary:
The Government recognises the immense challenges these restrictions place on people with loved ones based outside the UK. Unfortunately, at this time people must only travel with a reasonable excuse.
The opening 305 words of the 563-word response:
The Government introduced the Stay in the UK requirement from the 29 March to replace the Stay at Home requirement that had previously limited the permitted reasons for international travel. The Stay in the UK requirement is needed to restrict international travel, thereby reducing the risk of importing or exporting dangerous variants of concern (VoCs). It is crucial to limit excessive importation of the Coronavirus at a time where prevalence in the UK is falling but much of the population is not yet protected by vaccination, and when infection rates are considerably higher in many other countries.
The Government recognises that Covid restrictions have made it more difficult for families to see people and have been especially hard for those with relatives that live in other countries. However, at this time we are unable to extend the reasonable excuse for travel so that any visit to see a family member or partner abroad is allowed. The legislation includes a list of express reasonable excuses for travelling abroad, many of which will allow people to see their family or partners abroad, where it is necessary, and it would not be possible to delay.
For example, the regulations include a number of reasonable excuses to allow for international travel to see family members where a visit could not be delayed. This includes reasonable excuse to travel to support someone that is giving birth, to accompany someone to a medical appointment or provide care and assistance to a vulnerable person, which includes if the person is 70 or over, pregnant or has an underlying health condition. You can also travel out of the UK to attend your own wedding or civil partnership, or that of a close family member, if at least one of the people getting married or entering into a civil partnership lives outside the UK.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 1,644, came from Chelsea and Fulham.
103,157 of the signatures were from the UK and 3,438 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Chelsea and Fulham | 1,644 |
| Kensington | 1,581 |
| Cities of London and Westminster | 1,223 |
| Hampstead and Kilburn | 1,169 |
| Poplar and Limehouse | 1,129 |
| Westminster North | 1,100 |
| Hammersmith | 1,012 |
| Bermondsey and Old Southwark | 972 |
| Ealing Central and Acton | 933 |
| Battersea | 907 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| London | 36,691 |
| South East | 15,236 |
| East of England | 8,965 |
| South West | 7,157 |
| Scotland | 6,868 |
| North West | 6,034 |
| West Midlands | 5,120 |
| East Midlands | 4,835 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 3,778 |
| Wales | 1,983 |
| North East | 1,372 |
| Northern Ireland | 864 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 24 May 2021. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/565102.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
ac8782759a036673… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.