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5 IND. Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children Information
Note (draft), 2004, para 13.
6 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 10.
7 Immigration Rules HC 395, para 340.
8 Operational Processes. Processing Applications from
Children, C5, “Special Types of Case,” para 11.3.
9 Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003. Establishing the
criteria and mechanism for determining the Member
State responsible for examining an asylum application
lodged in one of the Member States by a third country
national.
10 Ibid, Endnote 8, para 11.2.
11 Extract from the refusal letter to a boy from Sierra
Leone who had been abducted by a rebel group after
his parents were killed. He became very ill after receiving
this letter and was diagnosed with post traumatic
stress disorder and referred for counselling. Interview
with Paul Morris, case worker at South Manchester
Law Centre, 2004.
12 Home Office. Children: Draft Asylum Policy Instruction.
April 2005.
18 Immediately prior to 1 April 2003 adults were usually
granted exceptional leave to remain for four years and
could then apply for indefinite leave to remain. Unaccompanied
or separated children were usually granted
exceptional leave for four years or until their 18th
birthday if that occurred before this four year period
would have expired.
19 Interview with Kate Jessop, a solicitor at Brighton
Housing Trust, 2004.
20 Interview with Clare Tudor, an adviser at the
Immigration Advisory Service in Glasgow, 2004.
21 Children Act 1989, s17.
22 Children Act 1989, s31.
23 In a number of cases this is as the result of their
mothers dying of an AIDS related illness or infection.
24 Immigration Rules HC 395.
25 The Immigration Service does not record those
leaving the U.K. and therefore does not know whether
a visitor has left the U.K. at the end of his or her visit
unless that person comes to its attention for a different
reason at a later date.
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13 Extract from the refusal letter for a 16-year-old girl
from Uganda. In her witness statement she had
explained that this visit occurred during an election
campaign and that both her father and her brother
were supporting an independent candidate against
the “government” candidate.
14 Interview with Sally Thompson, Partner at Luqmani
Thompson, 2004.
15 Humanitarian Protection was initially granted for a
three year period but this was increased to five years as
part of the New Asylum Model announced in February
2005. See Controlling our borders: making migration
work for Britain — the government’s five year strategy
for asylum and immigration, Cm 6472.
16 Ibid, Endnote 5, para 8.5.
17 Discretionary leave is generally granted for an initial
three year period and an individual can apply for indefinite
leave to remain once his or her discretionary leave
has been extended so that he or she has been in the U.K.
in this capacity for seven years.
26 That is, someone who has breached a condition of
their leave by not leaving the U.K. at the end of their
period of limited leave and who is therefore liable to
administrative removal under s10 of the Immigration
and Asylum Act 1999.
27 Guidelines on Children in Need (draft).
28 IND. Immigration Directorates’ Instructions, August
2003, C8 Annexe M, para 8.
29 Immigration Act 1971, Schedule 2, paras 8(1)(c) and 9(1).
30 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, s10.
31 Ibid, Endnote 8, para 13.4.1.
32 APU Notice 1/2003, 1 April 2003. Prior to this date separated
children would have been granted exceptional
leave to remain — but this category of leave was abolished
on 1 April 2003 and replaced by discretionary
leave and Humanitarian Protection, both of which
were more clearly and strictly defined.
33 An international organization funded by national
governments.
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