Section 31 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: caseworker guidance

Immigration staff guidance on considering the defence against criminal prosecution available to genuine asylum seekers.

What’s changed: Updated with new and updated links and housekeeping changes.

UK Visas and Immigration guidance for staff on:

• general advice on prosecution in asylum cases
• referring cases to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging advice in cases where the suspect has also claimed asylum
• the defence section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 provides
• Article 31 of the Refugee Convention 1951 on which this defence is based
• the House of Lords judgment in the case of Asfaw, which set out how article 31 and section 31 are to be interpreted
• the procedures you must follow when dealing with section 31 cases

Source: UK Visas and Immigration — guidance & rule updates on GOV.UK. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Republished in full. Always check the official page for the latest version.