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Asylum Procedure

Part 1: Introduction to Asylum Law

Immigration Law Asylum Law

Part 2: Introduction to Asylum Procedure

Applying for Asylum Port Applicants In-country Applicants Safe Third Countries Safe Countries of Origin The Decision-making Process Statement of Evidence Form Unaccompanied Minors and SEFS One Stop Notice and Statement of Additional Grounds Interviews Young Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers and Interviews Age Disputes Detention of Unaccompanied Minors The Decision Decision-making and Children Persecution of Children If the Claim is Successful If the Claim is Refused Where there is No In-Country Right of Appeal Child Applicants and Non-Suspensive Appeals The Adjudicator/Immigration Judge The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal Interpreters and Translators Judicial review Non-removal of Unaccompanied Minors

Section 1: Support from National Asylum Support Service

Applications to National Asylum Support Service Dispersal Unaccompanied Minors Not Normally Dispersed Asylum Seeker Families Destitute Adult Asylum Seekers Late Claims For Asylum NIAA 2002 Section 55 Challenges to Section 55 NASS Guidance on Late Claims Late Asylum Claims From Families and Unaccompanied Children Failed Asylum Seeker Families Failed Asylum seekers Without Children IAA 1999/Section4/Hard Cases Support 2004 Act Changes to Hard Cases Support Appeals: the Asylum Support Adjudicators Destitution – The Position For Unaccompanied Minors

Section 2: Local Authority Support

Support for People who Claimed Asylum Before 3 April 2000 Are Post-April 2000 Asylum Seekers Entitled to Local Authority Support? Needs Arising Solely Because of Destitution or its Physical Effects Needs Arising Otherwise than Solely Because of Destitution SWSA Section 12A Consequences of the NASS Duty to Destitute Asylum Seeker Families Local Authority Duties to Unaccompanied Minors What Happens When a Young Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Turns 18? The Hillingdon Case in Scotland Summary of Local Authority Duties Destitution – The Position for Unaccompanied Minors

Status, Rights & Issues

What is an Asylum Seeker? Families What are Unaccompanied Minors or Separated children ? Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers Rights to Stay Overseas Travel Travel Documents Family Reunion Healthcare Marriage Work Housing Homelessness Education Detention Legal Aid Forms of Leave to Remain in the UK Leave to Remain on Human Rights Grounds Adoption Fostering Female Genital Mutilation Asylum and Immigration Implications for HIV/AIDS Diagnosis Mental Health Issues Destitution Minors

Legislative Framework

Relevant Provisions of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, and their Interface with Immigration and Asylum Provisions Selected International Materials European Union Materials Regulations Directives Soft Law Measures Some UK Statutes on Immigration and Asylum Secondary Legislation Procedure Rules Statutory Instruments Soft Law Relevant Social Work Legislation

What Happens When a Young Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Turns 18?

Children must be provided with advice, guidance and assistance at least until the age of 19, and the local authority must also assess the needs of formerly looked after children, and provide a mechanism for considering representations made by them. The leading English case on the assistance to be given to former young unaccompanied minor asylum seekers is set out below. There then follows an analysis of the Scottish provisions and an estimate of how such cases may be dealt with here.

Following the Hillingdon case, set out below, the position in England is as follows:

R ex parte Berhe Kidane Munir and Ncube v London Borough of Hillingdon and the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, High Court, 29 August 2003, [2003] EWHC 2075 (Admin)

The applicants were all unaccompanied minor asylum seekers who had been given assistance by the London Borough of Hillingdon from their arrival in the UK until the age of 18. In England and Wales, the Children Leaving Care Act 2000 gives Councils certain duties in respect of young adults over the age of 18 who have previously been 'looked after' by them. Hillingdon Council did not provide the applicants with any assistance under the Children Leaving Care Act 2000 and argued that they did not require treating the applicants as formerly 'looked after' children. They had all been over 16 and claimed to be under 18 when they first arrived in the UK. On arrival, the Council had assessed their needs under the Children Act 1989 and had met those needs, but the Council argued (inter alia) that since they had been 'provided with housing provision' and not 'accommodated' under the Children Act, they were not 'looked after' children. Since they were not 'looked after' children they did not meet the criteria for assistance under the Children Leaving Care Act. The Court dismissed this argument as 'sophistry', found that the applicants had been 'looked after' by the Council, and therefore that they did qualify for assistance under the Children Leaving Care Act as 'former looked after children'.