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Guidance

Section 31 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: caseworker guidance

Immigration staff guidance on considering the defence against criminal prosecution available to genuine asylum seekers.

Updates to this page

From:
UK Visas and Immigration
Published:
22 April 2014
Last updated:
7 October 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated with new and updated links and housekeeping changes.

  2. Updated to include a new chapter on legal and judicial interpretation of Section 31, updated links and style changes.

  3. Updated guidance.

  4. First published.

Documents

Section 31 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: defence against prosecution (accessible)

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Section 31 Immigration and Asylum Act 1999: defence against prosecution

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Details

UK Visas and Immigration guidance for staff on:

  • general advice on prosecution in asylum cases
  • referring cases to the Crown Prosecution Service for charging advice in cases where the suspect has also claimed asylum
  • the defence section 31 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 provides
  • Article 31 of the Refugee Convention 1951 on which this defence is based
  • the House of Lords judgment in the case of Asfaw, which set out how article 31 and section 31 are to be interpreted
  • the procedures you must follow when dealing with section 31 cases

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