Claim asylum in the UK
After your screening
After your screening, the Home Office will review your case and decide whether it can be considered in the UK.
You’ll be sent an asylum registration card (ARC) to your UK address, unless you’ve been detained.
If the Home Office cannot send you an ARC immediately, they’ll send you an appointment letter telling you what to do next.
You might also be sent an asylum questionnaire. If you get one, fill it in and return it by the deadline - the address and deadline are written on the letter that comes with the questionnaire. If you cannot fill it in, call the Home Office asylum team. Their phone number is on the letter.
The Home Office will contact you about your asylum claim. If your contact details change, you must update them using the online form.
If your case can be considered in the UK, it will be given to a caseworker.
If your case cannot be considered in the UK
You may be sent to a safe country that will consider your asylum claim. This might happen if you’ve travelled to the UK through a safe third country or you have a connection with another country that you could claim asylum in.
Generally, a safe country is one that:
- you’re not a citizen of
- you would not be harmed in
- would not send you on to another country where you would be harmed
The Home Office can decide to send you to a safe country after your screening or your asylum interview.
If the Home Office cannot place you in another safe country, your case will be considered in the UK and given to a caseworker.
Caseworkers
You may have an asylum interview with your caseworker. They’ll make a decision about your application. They’ll also explain the asylum process and tell you what to do while you wait for an asylum decision.
You’ll need to go to regular meetings with your caseworker. These are known as ‘reporting events’.
If you do not go to your reporting events, your asylum claim may be withdrawn and you may be detained.
Tell your caseworker if you have any special needs, for example if you have a disability or need medication.
Your ARC
The ARC shows you’ve applied for asylum. You can use it to:
- show who you are
- show whether you have permission to work
- get health or education services
You must take your ARC with you when you go to your reporting events.
If you do not have your ARC
Contact the Home Office using the online form if you have any problems - for example:
- you’ve not got your ARC through the post
- you’ve lost it
- it’s been stolen
- it’s expired
You’ll be asked to give your Home Office or port reference number, and your ARC reference (if you know it).
Being detained
You may be detained at an immigration removal centre while you wait for a decision on your application.
You’ll either be:
- released if you get permission to stay in the UK
- held until you’re removed from the UK if you do not get permission to stay
You can also be detained and removed if it’s decided that another country is responsible for offering you asylum.
You may be able to appeal against the decision.
When you will not be detained
You will not usually be detained if:
- you’re a child
- you’re elderly
- you’re a family with children
- you’re pregnant
- you’re accepted as being a victim of trafficking
- you’re able to provide independent evidence of torture
- you have a mental or physical condition that cannot be managed or would present a risk to others in an immigration removal centre
Cancel your asylum claim
Email the Home Office as soon as possible if you want to stop your asylum claim. For example, because you get another type of permission to stay.
Asylum central communications hub asylumcentralcommunicationshub@homeoffice.gov.uk