legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

• is manifestly fraudulent, or where any of the evidence adduced in its support is manifestly
false;
• is “frivolous” or “vexatious” (for example, a claim could be considered vexatious if an
asylum seeker had made a previous claim for asylum based on the same facts, which had
been refused).
Section 1(5) of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996 provides that a substantive asylum claim
cannot be certified “if the evidence adduced in its support establishes a reasonable likelihood that
the appellant has been tortured in the country or territory to which he is to be sent”.
Home Office decisions to “certify” an application may be appealed to the Immigration Appellate
Authority (IAA), where cases are heard by special adjudicators sitting on their own. Such appeals
have suspensive effect. Detained port applicants must lodge their appeal within two days.
Otherwise, the seven-day period applies. Appeals must be decided within ten days of submission,
but special adjudicators have the power to extend this time limit.
According to Section 1(7) of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, if the special adjudicator
confirms the “certification” of the application, the asylum seeker may no longer apply for leave to
appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal (IAT). However, when the special adjudicator's
decision is in favour of the asylum seeker, the Home Office may still apply for leave to appeal to
the IAT.
These provisions will all be replaced by Schedule 4 to the immigration and Asylum Act 1999,
when an additional power, to certify a claim under Article 3 of the ECHR on the grounds that it is
manifestly unfounded or does not disclose a right under that Convention, will also apply.
The “short” procedure
The majority of asylum applications are dealt with under the so-called “standard procedure”.
Initially applied only to selected in-country asylum applications from seven nationalities, when it
was referred to as “short procedure”, it was subsequently extended to cover both port and incountry
applications from all nationalities, except Iraqis, Iranians, Libyans, Somalis, Liberians,
Rwandans, Afghans, Stateless Palestinians, nationals of the Gulf States (except Kuwaitis),
Bosnians, Croats and citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The asylum seeker is given his/her main interview as soon as possible after the application has
been made.
With port applications, the interview usually takes place within 24 hours of arrival. Following the
interview, a port applicant has five days in which to submit further representations in support of
his/her application if he/she is detained (see “Detention” below), and 28 days if he/she has been
granted temporary admission to the UK.
Where an in-country application for asylum is made in person at the Home Office, the applicant
may be interviewed on the same day, depending on the availability of interpreters. If the interview
cannot take place the same day, it will normally be held within the next 3-4 weeks. The applicant
has five days in which to submit further representations following the interview.
The Home Office gives priority to making decisions on applications from detained asylum
seekers, which usually take between 4-6 weeks, and from unaccompanied children. Other
decisions usually take longer.
At the end of December 1999, there was a backlog of over 102,000 asylum applications awaiting
decision by the Home Office, the highest figure recorded in the UK.
308
United Kingdom