Paragraph 327AB of the Immigration Rules requires the Secretary of State to record asylum claims, where the claim is particularised and made in person at a designated place, including at a port.1 No other restrictions exist which might create barriers in accessing asylum procedures. There are, for example, no maximum timelines, fees, legal, administrative or practical requirements and there is no differential treatment in terms of access to asylum procedures based on an individual’s personal characteristics.

Paragraph 328 of the Immigration Rules requires that all asylum applications deemed admissible be determined by the Secretary of State in accordance with the Refugee Convention and the Immigration Rules.2

However, sections 80B and 80C of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 give the Secretary of State a discretionary power to deem inadmissible the asylum claims of people who sought, or could reasonably have been expected to have sought protection in a “safe third state” they travelled through. Such people could be removed to a country meeting the definition of “safe” under section 80B of the 2002 Act without being admitted to the asylum procedure in the UK. A “safe third country” is defined as one in which a person will not face persecution or a contravention of their rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights; one from where they will not be sent to another country where this would result in them facing persecution or a contravention of their Article 3 rights; and one in which they may apply to be recognised as a refugee and, if so recognised, receive protection in accordance with the Refugee Convention.3

Therefore, while a person whose asylum claim is deemed inadmissible will not be admitted to the UK asylum procedure, they should not be required to return to the country in which they fear persecution without having accessed an asylum procedure in another safe country.

• 1Immigration Rules part 11: Asylum. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-11-asylum.
• 2Immigration Rules part 11: Asylum. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-part-11-asylum.
• 3Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Part 4A. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/41/part/4A.