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Using the United Kingdom’s asylum and immigration laws as a case study, this paper critiques three of its mechanisms with a view to improve legal representation of asylum seekers in determining their status as refugees. These are: the methodology of granting asylum by the Home Office, the use of country guidance information and country expert reports in supporting asylum cases. Despite the value in all of these processes in producing just and transparent UK immigration laws, they have distinct limitations because they do not adequately investigate the religious, political, cultural, linguistic and social dimensions of an asylum seeker’s case. It is left to an unwitting member of the Home Office or one expert to make sense of an asylum seeker’s race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. The result is that asylum seekers are not given a fair and rigorous voice to represent themselves. As Refugee Action states, “People seeking asylum arrive in the UK with almost nothing. Many have made a long and perilous journey. War and persecution have forced them to flee the homes they love. They hope and expect that they will receive a compassionate welcome. But for too many, the asylum system that they are confronted with in the UK is a hostile one, characterised by long delays, poor decisions, and a total lack of information” (Refugee Action, 2018). And, the Law society has stated, “As UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) faces possibly the largest single influx of applications in its history when EU nationals living in the UK seek to settle their status post-Brexit, the Law Society of England and Wales is raising the alarm on a system that – despite areas of good practice – is already failing too many applicants and their families. “Almost 50% of UK immigration and asylum appeals are upheld – clear evidence of serious flaws in the way visa and asylum applications are being dealt with,” said Law Society president Joe Egan. “Solicitors, charities and the media have long reported huge ... |