This is the first interview that takes place after you have claimed asylum. If you have claimed asylum at the port where you entered the UK, you will be usually be interviewed there by an immigration officer. If you claim asylum after entering the UK, you will be usually be interviewed at the Screening Unit in Croydon (and, at the time of writing, need to make a telephone appointment before going there. For updates and contact details, check the UKBA website). If you have evidence of why you would not be able to attend an appointment in Croydon (because of complicated medical issues or disabilities for example), you or your legal representative need to speak to UKBA to see if it’s possible to be interviewed elsewhere.
In your screening interview, you will be asked some basic questions (often called ‘bio-data’) about your name, date of birth, where you are from, family, religion, and ethnicity. You will be asked to say briefly why you have come to the UK (why you are claiming asylum). This should only be a brief couple of questions (see section of screening interview form below), as you will be asked about this in much more detail in your (later) substantive interview, and there is case law to show that information given in the screening interview about reasons for claiming asylum should not be overly relied upon.
A major part of your screening interview will be about your journey to the UK. One of the reasons you are asked questions about this is to determine whether the UK is responsible for considering your asylum claim (see ‘Dublin/Third Country Cases’). There are also questions asking whether you have claimed asylum or been granted refugee status in any other country; and if you passed through other countries, why you did not apply for asylum there.
If the information you give in this interview is different from the information you give in later interviews, this will be used against you. If you are not sure of something or can’t remember a date or detail say ‘I’m not sure of the date’ or ‘I don’t remember’.
You will be asked about your health in this interview. Although it is difficult to give personal details to someone you don’t know, and when you may have just arrived after a long and difficult journey, if you don’t feel well, you should say so. You may be feeling tired, distressed or ill, especially if you are doing your interview at the port. It is even harder to remember details of your journey when you are tired or stressed, and if this is causing you a problem you should ask that this is recorded on the interview record. If you later refer to a health problem that wasn’t mentioned in your screening interview, this may be used against your case.
Below is the section of the form currently used in the screening interview to ask about health. Note: the reference to illnesses not affecting your application for asylum is important. Some people do not disclose illnesses such as HIV/AIDS or TB because they fear they will denied leave to remain on that basis. This is not allowed to happen under UK law.
You will not have a solicitor with you during this interview. There will be an interpreter provided. If there are any problems with the interpreter – you cannot understand them, they cannot understand you, they speak a different dialect, you don’t think they are being professional or you can tell they aren’t interpreting things correctly – it is very important to tell UKBA this and ask them to write it down. You can also tell your solicitor at a later date, but it is far better to have it recorded at the time of interview. If there is a discrepancy in your testimony that is used to refuse your application, and this is because of poor interpretation at the screening interview, it will be much easier to prove if it was recorded that there were problems with the interpretation.
At the screening interview it will be decided which category your case falls into:
For more information on what happens in children’s cases, see the Young People Seeking Safety website and resources blog. The Migrant Children's Project also has a lot of useful resources on their website.
Detained fast-track, detained non-suspensive appeals and Dublin/Third country are explained below. If your case is identified as a Dublin case, you will not have an asylum/substantive interview. If your case is categorised as detained fast track, you will have an asylum interview but with much less time to prepare; and if your case is identified as a non-suspensive appeal case you will have an asylum interview but no right of appeal if you are refused after the interview. The asylum/substantive interview process is explained here.