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

Appeal
Apart from those rejected on “safe third country” grounds to EU Member States or other designated
safe third countries (see above), all asylum seekers have a suspensive right of appeal.
Asylum seekers whose applications were rejected after July 1993 have rights of appeal under
Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, which is to be replaced by Section 69
of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. The procedures relating to lodging and hearing of asylum
appeals are governed by the Asylum Appeals (Procedure) Rules 1996, which are also to be
replaced at some time in 2000.
Initial negative decisions taken by the Home Office may be appealed to the Immigration Appellate
Authority, where cases are heard by special adjudicators sitting on their own. Appeals must be
lodged within seven days following notification of the decision.
Once an appeal has been lodged, the Home Office or Immigration Service must forward all the
documents relating to the case to the IAA within 42 days following the submission of the appeal.
The IAA must send out a notice of hearing within five days, and give its ruling within 42 days of
receipt of the appeal documents. However, special adjudicators have the power to extend these
time limits. The time limits may be changed when new appeals rules are issued late in 2000.
Asylum seekers may have a legal representative during the procedure, and legal assistance
payments are available. The Secretary of State is normally represented by a Home Office
Presenting Officer, not by the interviewing officer or the decision maker. Oral evidence is heard in
the majority of cases and submissions are made by both parties. The UN High Commissioner for
Refugees may apply to be joined as a party to any asylum appeal, and will occasionally do so, if a
particular issue of interpretation is raised.
Either party (the asylum seeker and the Home Office) may apply for leave to appeal against the
special adjudicator’s decision to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal (IAT) (except in certified cases –
see above – when the appellant has no further right of appeal). Such an application must be
submitted, along with a full statement of all the grounds to be argued, to the IAT not later than five
days after receipt of the special adjudicator’s decision. The IAT must decide within the following ten
days whether to grant leave to appeal.
If leave to appeal is granted by the IAT, a notice of hearing must then be sent out within the five
following days and the case must be decided within 42 days after the notice of appeal was served.
The IAT may extend these time limits.
When deciding on the appeal, the IAT has the power to either uphold or overrule the special
adjudicator's decision, or to remit the appeal for re-hearing before another special adjudicator. If the
IAT dismisses the appeal, an application for leave to appeal further to the Court of Appeal may be
made on a question of law.
If leave to appeal is refused by the IAT, the appellant may apply for permission to seek judicial
review in the High Court to overturn the refusal of leave.
In some cases in-country applicants whose appeals before the IAT have been dismissed will have
a further opportunity to appeal to the IAA when they are issued with a further decision to make a
deportation order. Following changes in the law in 1996 and 1999 this is only likely in respect of
child applicants.
Special arrangements exist where the Secretary of State alleges grounds of national security. In
such cases the normal appeal procedure is not available, but an appeal may be brought before the
Special Immigration Appeals Commission, which has rules of procedure allowing evidence to be
withheld from the appellant, but considered instead by an independent adviser.
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United Kingdom