Seeking Refuge? - Rights of Women

Case-owners have a number of responsibilities
including:
- Meeting you at the first reporting event (see
above).
- Being responsible for any reporting
conditions that are imposed on you.
- Conducting your asylum interview.
- Working with your legal representative to
clarify the issues in the case.
- Controlling the progression of your case by
altering the times that certain things are
done (for example, the date of the
interview), if flexibility is required.
- Making an initial decision on whether you
should be granted protection in the UK or
whether your claim should be refused.
- Ending your case by either assisting you with
your integration in the UK or arranging for
your re-documentation and removal.
Your legal representative (or you, if you don’t
have a legal representative) should be in close
contact with your case-owner(s) throughout
the process.
Why is my case in the Detained
Fast-track?
It is UK Border Agency policy that any asylum
claim may be considered suitable for the detained
fast-track where it appears, after screening, to be
one where a quick decision may be made.
The policy referred to is the Detained
fast-track and detained non-suspensive
appeals – intake selection (21/07/08). You
can download a copy from the UK Border
Agency website at:
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/
documents/policyandlaw/asylumprocess
guidance/detention/
The decision to deal with a case in the detained
fast-track is taken on a case-by-case basis. There
are some people who should not be detained:
• Women who are 24 or more weeks pregnant.
• Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children,
whose dates of birth are accepted by the UK
Border Agency.
• Those with a medical condition requiring care
24 hours a day.
• Those with physical and / or learning disabilities
requiring care 24 hours a day.
• Those with a disability, except disabilities that
can be managed easily.
• Those with serious mental health problems,
such as schizophrenia, who require treatment
in a hospital.
• Those with an infectious or contagious disease,
such as TB, which cannot be managed in a
detention centre.
• Those who have independent evidence from an
expert organisation (such as the Poppy Project)
that they have been a victim of trafficking (that
they have been brought into the UK and forced
into prostitution).
• Those who have independent evidence (from a
doctor, for example) that they have been
tortured. Torture is serious physical or mental
harm. Torture includes beating someone, or
harming them physically in other ways. Rape
and other types of serious sexual violence are
considered to be torture.
If you are in one of these groups, you must tell
your case-owner and your legal representative as
soon as possible. Your legal representative can
then take steps to try to have you released from
detention.
If you are not in one of the above groups, you can
be considered for detention if your case could be
decided quickly.
According to UK Border Agency policy, most
claims for asylum can be decided quickly, unless
there is evidence indicating otherwise. Evidence
which may show that a quick decision is not likely
includes:
• Where it appears that either you or the UK
Border Agency will need to make further
enquiries, or obtain evidence that would
support your case, and it appears that this will
take longer than the time allowed under the
detained fast-track. Further enquiries could
involve things such as getting a medical report
or researching the situation in your country.
• Where it is likely that documents that you have
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