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What is the Detained Fast Track?

After claiming asylum, your case will be put into one of five categories after the screening interview.

The categories are:

1. children

2. Dublin (see Dublin/third country section)

3. Detained fast track

4. Detained non-suspensive appeal

5. General casework

The Detained Fast Track is for cases which UKBA thinks can be decided quickly because the case is ‘uncomplicated’, and the person can easily be deported (if a claim is refused). This means the person will be detained while their application is considered (for the asylum interview, for the decision, and for the appeal).

Any adult from any country can be detained if they are put in the DFT system, except for:

women 24 weeks pregnant or over

people with health conditions needing 24 hour medical care

people with disabilities, except the ‘most easily manageable’ disabilities

people with infectious and/or contagious diseases

people with severe mental health problems

people with evidence that they have been tortured

children (under 18 years old) and families with dependent children

victims or potential victims of trafficking as decided by a ‘competent authority’ (a ‘first referrer agency’ in the national referral mechanism).

If you are in any of these categories you should tell your legal advisor. You should tell your legal advisor if you have been tortured or if you have health issues. You should also ask to see the Detention Centre doctor, who you have the right to see within 48 hours of arrival at the detention centre (see also ‘Medical cases, torture survivors and Rule 35’ in Immigration Detention section).

Difference between DFT and detained non-suspensive appeals

These two categories can seem to overlap, and are a little confusing. It’s possible for a case to be put in the detained non-suspensive appeals category and then moved into the DFT category.

Non-suspensive appeals means there is no right to appeal within the UK (the asylum claim is certified). This is clearly problematic as this decision is being made before the asylum interview when an applicant would give full reasons of why they fled. The decision is usually made on the grounds of country of origin (where it is thought you are unlikely to need the protection of international law. These countries are often called the ‘White List’. You can find out more about which countries are on the Safe Country/White List here.

The timing of an application is also taken into account (so, if UKBA feels that an asylum application is merely ‘opportunistic’, meaning made just to get leave to remain because other options have now closed). A decision to certify an asylum application can be judicially reviewed.

If your application is put in the non-suspensive appeals category, you could be detained at the point of the screening interview but not subject to the DFT time-frame. Your case can also be placed in the non-suspensive appeals section without you being detained.

What are the problems with DFT?

As the diagram above shows, time is very short if your case is put in the DFT category. This makes it very difficult for you to get good legal advice and gather the evidence you need. As the Independent Chief Inspector of the UKBA’s 2012 report showed (pdf), it is common for people who are not meant to be in the DFT category (in the list above) to be nonetheless detained in the fast-track system. This is partly because screening interviews are not being conducted with enough privacy or care, and so people claiming asylum do not feel able to share information which shows they are in the exempt categories.

The detained fast track system accounts for a high proportion of the people deported from the UK. UKBA may claim that this shows the system is working, but to NCADC this is a matter of grave concern as so many people in need of protection are not getting the chance to explain and try to prove their story because of the time pressures the DFT system brings.

Read Detention Action’s excellent report on the problems in the Detained Fast Track system here (pdf).

 

Next page: The Asylum (or Substantive) Interview


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