Sitting between his barrister and a Home Office official in front of the adjudicator, he braced himself for the Home Office cross-examination. But he never got a chance to speak. A young woman in a grey suit who yawned a lot was representing the Home Office. She had not read the expert report. Ahmed must return to London in two months.
Some asylum seekers wait years for their appeals to be dealt with.
The person from the Home Office who has made the first decision is not the same person who has to defend that decision in an appeal. No one ever ends up taking personal responsibility for those decisions. Despite the adversarial nature of appeals, an estimated one third of those asylum seekers who challenge the Home Office's initial decision are eventually granted exceptional leave to remain or refugee status through appeal, tribunal or judicial review, according to Asylum Aid. But life after refusal can go several ways. Immigration officers were given powers to enter asylum seeker's homes, arrest them and take them to prison, police stations or detention centres for deportation in the Asylum and Immigration Act 1999.