Seeking Refuge? - Rights of Women

• any unpublished documents that they refer to
in their refusal; and
• a record of your asylum interview.
The AIT may tell the Home Office to do this by a
particular day, otherwise it must be done as soon
as possible and no later than 2pm on the working
day before the date of any hearing. This hearing
will usually be the Case Management Review
Hearing (see below).
It is important that your legal representative
checks that the information given by the Home
Office includes all of the documents and evidence
that you gave them as part of your claim for
protection, and that you want to rely on in your
appeal. If the Home Office does not produce a
document that you want to rely on, you should
give it to the AIT yourself.
In addition to this exchange of information, your
legal representative will also arrange for other
documents, such as any witness statements or
expert reports, to be given to the AIT and the
Home Office. Your legal representative may also
do other things to prepare your case, including:
• Instructing experts to give evidence for you.
• Researching the situation in your country.
• Looking at other determinations made by the
AIT that are relevant to you and your country.
• Instructing a barrister (see above) to advise on
the preparation of your appeal and represent
you.
Most asylum appeals will have a Case
Management Review Hearing arranged within
a couple of weeks of the AIT receiving your notice
of appeal.
The purpose of the Case Management Review
Hearing is to make sure that your appeal is
prepared properly, and that both your
representative and the Home Office have the
information that they need. Practical issues, such
as whether you need an interpreter at your
appeal, should also be decided at this hearing.
The date of the appeal hearing itself will also be
set. How long you will have to wait before your
appeal is heard will depend on the number of
cases that a particular AIT has to deal with. If you
have a legal representative, you do not need to
attend the Case Management Review Hearing if
he or she is attending, although you may do so if
you would like to.
Evidence at your appeal
At your appeal, you can rely on any evidence that
is relevant to your case. This could be evidence
from witnesses, documentary evidence or what
you say about why you need protection in the UK.
If you have documents that are not written in
English, these must be properly translated. It is
also a good idea to bring any original documents
that you have with you to the appeal, so that you
can show them to the Immigration Judge.
At the appeal hearing
Appeals in the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal
(the AIT) are heard in places across the UK,
including in detention centres. You will be told
when and where your appeal will be held. It is
extremely important to attend your appeal as, if
you do not, it may go ahead without you. If there
is some reason why you are not able to attend
your appeal, for example, because you are
seriously ill, you must contact your legal
representative and the AIT as soon as possible.
In addition to the Immigration Judge or Judges
(and any other tribunal members) the following
people usually attend appeals:
• You and your legal representative (if you are
appealing from outside the UK, it will just be
your legal representative who attends on your
behalf).
• Your interpreter, if you need one.
• A representative of the UK Border Agency
called a Home Office Presenting Officer. This
will usually be a different person from the caseowner
in the UK Border Agency who made the
initial decision in your case.
• Any experts that are giving evidence, for
example, a doctor who wrote a report on
injuries that you received, or on the situation in
your country of origin.
• Any witnesses that you have.
For many people, attending an appeal is frightening.
It is therefore important to discuss anything that you
are not sure about, or do not understand, before or
during the hearing, with your legal representative.
Your legal representative will also be able to tell you
how to prepare for the hearing.
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