NCADC Campaigning Toolkit

The decision letter (Reasons for Refusal Letter, or RFRL)

As soon as you receive a decision to refuse your asylum claim, you, or your legal representative with you, should go through every paragraph of the decision letter, and write down your own comments about what the letter says. Sometimes the refusal letter paragraphs are numbered. If not, it is useful to number them, and use the same numbers to make your comments. The decision letter will start by stating the law on asylum and confirming the date on which you applied for asylum. The first important section contains a summary of your claim. The letter will list all the facts (parts of your story) and say how you told them each fact, whether in your Screening Interview (SCI), Asylum Interview Record (AIR) or a statement (WS, for witness statement). You should check and note anything which is not correct. Make sure that you look back at your screening interview, Asylum Interview Record and any statements you have given to the UKBA. You should also make a note of any part of your claim that is not mentioned. You are strongly advised to make a new statement, setting out each of your comments on the Reasons for Refusal Letter, to use in your appeal.

If you have a legal representative she should help you do this. If you do not have a legal representative, it is very important that you write your comments on everything that is wrong in the UKBA decision letter, and send it to the Tribunal, so that, when you appeal, the Immigration Judge will see all your comments even if you cannot remember them at the appeal hearing.

Negative credibility (not believing your claim)

One of the main reasons the UKBA gives for refusing people is poor or negative credibility. It is important to take time to write down what is wrong with each part of what the UKBA has said about your claim. Here are some examples of reasons for refusal:

‘You claim that you were imprisoned because you were discovered attending a meeting of an illegal political group. But you have not been able to name the meeting place.’

‘The US State Department Report on Religious Persecution for your country does not include that church as one of the forbidden churches.’

‘It is not believed that women your age would be imprisoned …’

‘… if you had a genuine asylum claim you would have left at the earliest opportunity…’

If the decision letter refuses your claim because the UKBA states that they do not believe all or some of the facts in your case (called ‘negative credibility’) it is important that you try to get further evidence, and witnesses, to support the details of your claim.