Asylum Appeals and Protection Refusals

What Happens When a Protection Claim Is Refused

A protection claim is a claim that removing you from the UK would breach the Refugee Convention or the UK's obligations to people eligible for humanitarian protection. When the Home Office refuses it, section 82 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 gives a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). The same section covers refusal of a human rights claim and revocation of protection status.

An independent judge decides whether removal would breach the Refugee Convention, the humanitarian protection rules or section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The tribunal hears your evidence afresh, but cannot consider a new matter unless the Home Office consents.

If you have not yet claimed, our page on claiming asylum in the UK explains the first stage. Refusals of family or private life claims are covered on our human rights appeals page.

Certification and the Right of Appeal

Read the decision letter carefully, because certification can remove or restrict the right of appeal. Under section 94 the Home Office may certify a claim as clearly unfounded, meaning a claim that cannot on any legitimate view succeed. Where the claim was certified under section 94(1) on or after 28 June 2022 there is no right of appeal at all, and the certificate can only be challenged by judicial review. Certificates issued before that date fall under the older rules, under which an appeal could still be brought, but only from outside the UK.

If you are entitled to live in a country listed in section 94 as generally safe, the Home Office must certify your claim unless satisfied that it is not clearly unfounded. Where you are to be removed to a safe third country and the claim is certified under section 94(7), any appeal must be brought from outside the UK.

Section 96 lets the Home Office certify that you cannot appeal where your ground could have been raised in an earlier appeal, or in response to a one-stop notice under section 120, and there is no satisfactory reason for not raising it then. Under section 92 a protection claim made in the UK is normally appealed from inside the UK, and if you leave the UK before an appeal brought from inside the UK is finally decided it is treated as abandoned, unless the claim was certified under section 94(7) or section 94B, in which case the appeal continues from outside the UK.

Certification is not the only way appeal rights are lost. If your asylum claim is declared inadmissible under section 80A or 80B of the 2002 Act, for example because the Home Office proposes to remove you to a safe third country, that is not a refusal of the claim, so no right of appeal under section 82(1)(a) arises and the decision can be challenged only by judicial review.

Evidence and Common Problems on Appeal

The tribunal decides on the evidence before it, so the bundle matters as much as the grounds. It usually includes your witness statement, statements from people who know your circumstances, documents from your home country, medical reports and objective evidence about country conditions. It should also answer any point the Home Office disputes, such as identity, nationality or a particular event.

For claims made on or after 28 June 2022, section 32 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 applies a two-stage test. You must show on the balance of probabilities that you have a characteristic that could cause you to fear persecution and that you do fear it. The tribunal then asks whether there is a reasonable likelihood of persecution on return without state protection, and whether you could reasonably relocate within your country.

Credibility is usually the central issue. Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 requires the tribunal to take account of certain behaviour as damaging your credibility, including failing without reasonable explanation to produce identity documents, to keep travel documents intact or to answer questions, not claiming asylum in a safe country where you had a reasonable opportunity to do so, and claiming only after an immigration decision or an arrest when there was a reasonable opportunity to claim earlier. Differences between your interviews and your witness statement need to be explained in evidence.

How the Asylum Appeal Process Works

1. Check the deadline. Your notice of appeal must reach the tribunal within 14 days of the decision being sent to you if you are in the UK. If you are outside the UK the limit is 28 days, but the date it runs from depends on your case: 28 days from the day you left the UK where you were here when the decision was made and cannot appeal from inside the UK (for example where the claim is certified under section 94(7)), and in any other case 28 days from the day you received the decision. A late appeal must explain the delay and the tribunal decides whether it can still be heard.
2. Lodge the appeal. Appeals are lodged online, through MyHMCTS where a solicitor acts, or by post or email; if you are detained in an immigration removal centre or prison and have no representative you must appeal by post or email. The notice states the statutory grounds and attaches the decision.
3. Prepare the case. We draft the grounds, take your witness statement, gather medical and country evidence and comply with the tribunal's directions. You cannot be removed while an in-country appeal is pending.
4. Attend the hearing. The tribunal must normally hold a hearing before deciding your appeal, in person, by video or by telephone, before a judge, with a Home Office presenting officer, an interpreter if you need one and any witnesses. Under rule 25 it can decide without a hearing in limited situations, including where every party has consented or has simply not objected, where the fee for a hearing has not been certified as satisfied, where you are outside the UK with no representative at a UK address, where a party has not complied with the rules or a direction, or where the tribunal considers it can justly decide the case on the papers after giving the parties notice and a chance to make written representations. You can ask at any stage for the appeal to be expedited on compelling or compassionate grounds.
5. Receive the decision. The judge allows or dismisses the appeal in writing. An allowed appeal does not automatically mean permission to stay is granted at once: the Home Office must revise its decision in line with the judgment, and either side can seek to appeal.
6. Consider an onward appeal. If the appeal is dismissed, you can ask the First-tier Tribunal for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on an error of law within 14 days of the written reasons being sent (28 days from outside the UK). If permission is refused, you can apply to the Upper Tribunal itself within 14 days, or one month from outside the UK.

For appeals lodged on or after 12 August 2026, where you were receiving asylum accommodation support when the appeal was lodged, the tribunal must decide it within 24 weeks unless that is not reasonably practicable. The duty, inserted into the 2002 Act by section 49 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, does not apply where the appeal must be brought or continued from outside the UK.

When Legal Advice Is Especially Important

The deadline is short and the wrong first step can close off later options. Advice matters most where:

• your claim has been certified as clearly unfounded or under section 96, so there is no ordinary appeal
• you are detained or removal directions have been set: our pages on immigration detention and removal directions explain the urgent steps
• you hold evidence that was never put before the Home Office
• the refusal turns on credibility findings from your interviews
• your appeal has been dismissed and the deadline for permission to appeal is already running

Where there is no right of appeal, or your appeal rights are exhausted, two routes usually remain. Further submissions amount to a fresh claim, with a new right of appeal if refused, only where they are significantly different from what was considered before and create a realistic prospect of success; see our page on fresh asylum claims and further submissions. Judicial review challenges the lawfulness of a decision rather than rehearing the facts, must be filed promptly and within three months, and normally follows a pre-action protocol letter; our judicial review page explains when it is arguable.

How RakLAW Solicitors Can Help

We read the decision letter with you, identify the remedy and the date the deadline runs from, and advise honestly whether an appeal, further submissions or judicial review is the right course. Where an appeal is available we lodge it in time, draft the grounds, prepare your witness statement, hearing bundle and any medical or country reports, and represent you at the hearing. After a dismissal we advise on any error of law and apply for permission to appeal where justified.

RakLAW Solicitors is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA number 8007405) and works from 42 Shad Thames, London SE1 2YD, a short walk from Tower Bridge. We do not offer legal aid; our immigration fees page explains how we charge. Call 0203 345 2000 for a free 15-minute consultation; if you are in immediate danger call 999.