Gender identities and family roles and relationships have an important but controversial and contested - place in the British asylum system. Drawing on the experience of a refused asylum seeker, who I call Martin, this article considers the various ways in which 'family' arose in the long course of his asylum claim: from the loss of his parents, to falling in love and creating new family ties in the UK. Through Martin's narrative of his experiences of the immigration system, and the realities and aftermath of prison and immigration detention, the article considers the politics, tensions and hurdles of family ties for asylum seekers and those facing forced removal from the UK.