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Home > Asylum > Negative Recommendation

Negative Recommendation

If the recommendation is negative, the applicant can, within 15 working days, appeal this decision to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal,  an independent quasi-judicial body.

In most cases the appeal is a full Oral Hearing with witnesses where appropriate,  before a Tribunal Member ( a solicitor or barrister appointed directly by the Minister on a part-time basis). The Chairman allocates the appeals to the individual Tribunal Members.

Where the applicant fails,  he receives a copy of the decision and in due course receives a written notice of intention to deport known as a Section 3 Letter.

At this point he/she can apply for Subsidiary Protection which covers cases where the applicant may have reason to fear serious harm in his/her country of origin but not necessarily because of race, religion nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion.  That is,  he may not qualify as a refugee but is in real danger in his/her home country.

The applicant can also apply for Humanitarian Leave to Remain and the applicant must submit humanitarian representations within 15 working days of the receipt of the proposal to deport. These can be updated before the Deportation Order issues as these factors often change over the weeks,  months and even years the applicant remains in the humanitarian application system.

Before expelling an applicant,  the Minister must also consider the principle of non-refoulement,  which is a general prohibition on forced return to a country of origin where life or freedom is threatened i.e. where there has been a marked deterioration in the human rights situation in the country from the time of refusal.

Under the European Convention On Human Rights factors may arise that may lend support to the final appeals against a Deportation Order and legal advice would be warranted.

If new circumstances arise after a Deportation Order has been made an application under section 17.7 of the Refugee Act 1996 can be made requesting to be re-admitted to the refugee application system where new circumstances have arisen which could not have been considered in the original application

JUDICIAL REVIEW

This option is always open to an applicant at anytime throughout the application and legal advice should be sought if it is felt any application or hearing has not been fairly dealt with or errors factual or legal have occurred.