What Protection Means Here.
A protection claim is a claim that removing you would breach the Refugee Convention, or would breach Article 2 or Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. There is more than one basis, they are decided against different tests, and a claim can succeed on one and fail on another.
Refugee Status
Under the Refugee Convention
Requires a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and that you cannot obtain the protection of your own country.
Humanitarian Protection
Where the Convention reasons do not fit
For a person who does not qualify as a refugee but who would face a real risk of serious harm on return. The risk is the question rather than the reason for it.
Human Rights Claims
Articles 2, 3 and 8
A claim that removal would breach the right to life or the prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment. A claim on private and family life under Article 8 is a different test again.
Fresh Claims
After appeal rights are exhausted
Where a claim has been finally refused, further submissions can be made and may be treated as a fresh claim if they are significantly different from what has already been considered and stand a realistic prospect of success.
Appeals
To an independent judge
A refusal ordinarily carries a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal under section 82 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. A further appeal to the Upper Tribunal is on a point of law and needs permission.
The Legal Position
This area has been rewritten repeatedly and in opposite directions over the last few years, and parts of several Acts are in force at once. What that means in practice is straightforward, and it is the reason dates matter so much.
Credibility Is Usually the Issue
Most refusals turn on whether the account is believed rather than on the law. What is said at the substantive interview, and whether it is consistent with everything else on the file, is what the decision is built from.
Certain Behaviour Counts Against You
Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 requires some conduct, including failing to claim in a safe country passed through and using a false document, to be taken into account as damaging credibility. It is a factor, not an automatic bar.
A Claim Is Made in the UK
Protection cannot be claimed from abroad or at a British embassy. The claim is registered here, and the route by which someone arrived is a separate question from whether they are at risk.
How a Claim Runs
The Home Office controls the pace of the first part and the tribunal controls the second. The deadlines that bite are on your side of it, and they are short.
Registering and Screening
The claim is registered and a screening interview establishes identity, route of travel and the basis of the claim in outline. It is brief, and what is said in it is on the file for the rest of the case.
The Substantive Interview
The long interview, and the evidence the decision is made from. It covers the account in detail and tests it for consistency.
Preparation before it, and the country evidence and expert or medical evidence gathered around it, do more for a claim than anything that happens afterwards.
The Decision, and the Appeal
The Home Office grants or refuses. A refusal ordinarily carries a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, and the time limit to lodge it is short and strictly applied.
The appeal is heard by an independent judge who can hear evidence again, which is why a refusal is not the end of a claim.
Legal Aid and Fees
£180 for the consultation, up to one hour, plus VAT at 20% where UK VAT applies to you. That depends on where you are living when you instruct us, and we will tell you before you decide.
£180You do not pay it if you already hold a legal aid certificate. The government eligibility checker is not a certificate: it estimates eligibility, it does not grant it, so we cannot waive the fee on a checker result.
Otherwise the fee is payable, and we carry out the legal aid assessment at the consultation itself, on means and then merit. That assessment is what decides how your case proceeds. Asylum and protection work is one of the areas that remained in scope when most immigration work was taken out of it, so the assessment here is on means and then merit rather than on scope. The fee for the work itself is assessed after that meeting and confirmed in writing before any work starts.
Things to Know
These answers state the general position in the United Kingdom. Your advice will address your circumstances.
Can I Claim Asylum From Outside the UK?
No. A protection claim is made in the United Kingdom. There is no application that can be submitted from another country or at a British embassy.
I Travelled Through Another Country. Does That End It?
It does not end the claim automatically. Failing to claim in a safe country you passed through is something section 8 requires to be taken into account as damaging credibility, so it is a factor to be addressed rather than a bar.
How Important Is the Substantive Interview?
It is the single most important thing in the claim. It is the evidence the decision is built from, and most refusals turn on credibility findings made from what was said in it. It should not be approached as a formality.
I Have Been Refused. Is That the End?
Ordinarily no. A refusal usually carries a right of appeal to an independent judge in the First-tier Tribunal, who can hear the evidence again. The time limit is short and applied strictly, so a refusal letter should be acted on the day it arrives, not the week after.
Can I Work While I Am Waiting?
Permission to work is restricted while a claim is outstanding and the position depends on how long the claim has been pending and on the current rules. It is one of the things to ask about at the first meeting rather than to assume either way.
Does a Grant Cover My Family?
Dependants in the United Kingdom can be included in a claim. Family members abroad are a separate application under the family reunion provisions, made after status is granted rather than as part of the claim.
What Should I Bring to the First Meeting?
Every document the Home Office has sent you, with the dates. Your Home Office reference. The date you arrived and the date you claimed. Any evidence about what happened to you, including medical records, and the details of anyone who can speak to it. Bring what you have even if it is incomplete.
Other ImmigrationServices
Review related advice on deportation and detention, family visas, and the EU Settlement Scheme.
