If you’re preparing for your substantive (long) asylum interview with the Home Office and you’re claiming asylum based on your sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed. This blog outlines what to expect and how you can prepare, with links to resources that can guide you through the process.

1. General advice and helpful links: claiming asylum

2. Key points for LGBTQI+ asylum claims

  • You can claim asylum on one or more ‘Convention grounds’ – the Convention grounds are race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group. Being LGBTQI+ usually counts as being a member of a particular social group, depending on the country you are from and its treatment of LGBTQI+ people. Remember you can raise more than one reason for claiming asylum – e.g. LGBTQI+ and political opinion;
  • You need to prove to the Home Office that you have a well-founded fear of persecution – this means the risk is not definite but there is a real risk and future risk;
  • What is persecution – serious, targeted mistreatment of an individual because of their identity e.g. act(s) of physical or mental violence, discriminatory targeting by the state, prosecution or punishment which is discriminatory.
  • The Home Office will also consider whether you will conceal your sexual orientation or gender identity if you are returned to your country.  If you would live openly in your country and therefore be at risk of persecution, the Home Office should accept this part of your claim.  If you would conceal your sexual orientation or gender identity and one of the reasons you would conceal is a fear of persecution, the Home Office should accept this part of your claim.  If the only reason you would conceal your sexual orientation or gender identity is for example out of personal preference or embarrassment, the Home Office will not accept this part of your claim.
  • To be a refugee, you will need to show that your country’s government, police and officials cannot or will not protect you.  This means you need to explain to the Home Office who it that you fear from your country – is it the state itself that you fear – for example government officials, the police, or other people who have a lot of control (e.g. extremist groups) – or is it your family, community, religious groups or a gang?
  • If you fear the government, police, or other officials because they persecute LGBTQI+ people, then it is clear that the state cannot protect you. However, if you fear persecution from your family, community, or other people who are not in state power, then you need to explain to the Home Office why your country’s government, police and officials cannot protect you from the people who are persecuting you. This could be because there is no protection available from your government or police so they would not be able to protect you. Or it might be that the police would not be willing to protect you and actually asking for protection from the police would put you in more danger.  So applying this principle, if your family is threatening violence against you because you are LGBTQI+, you need to explain why you could not seek protection from the police, and what would happen if you tried to do this. In a lot of countries, the police also can persecute LGBTQI+ people, so if this is the case for you, you must explain this;
  • The Home Office will also consider whether you could live in another city/region of your country and would be safe there. This is called internal relocation. For example, they might say you would not be safe in your home city because of threats from your family, but would be safe somewhere else in the country which is far from your family. To show that this would not protect you, you need to prove that the risk you. You will need to provide a good reason that you cannot relocate to another part of the country.  For example, would you be unsafe in another part of the country because your persecutors would be able to track you down? Or would living alone in a different part of the country pose new risks, for example it might be dangerous for a single woman to live on her own, outside of her family or community?
  • It is advisable to claim asylum as soon as possible and to tell the Home Office that you fear persecution because you are LGBTQI+. However, some people also come to the UK on another visa, e.g. a student visa or work visa, live here for many years and then decide to claim asylum later on because either their situation changes, the situation in their country changes, or because they did not know they could claim asylum before. Many people are not aware they can claim asylum if they face persecution because they are LGBTQI+. Many people think of asylum as being only for people who are fleeing war or torture or political persecution etc. So many LGBTQI+ people only realise they can claim asylum later on. Also if you have faced persecution for being LGBTQI+ in your home country, some people feel scared to talk about their sexual orientation or gender identity straight away when they come to the UK – especially to government officials. They might need time to accept and feel comfortable with themselves before they tell someone about it – including the Home Office or their lawyer. If you delayed claiming asylum, or delayed telling the Home Office you are LGBTQI+ for any of these or any other reason, you must explain as clearly as you can the reason for the delay.
  • Before your interview: drafting your statement and gathering evidence

3. Drafting your statement and gathering evidence

Before your interview, write a statement explaining your story in your own words. This will help you stay clear and consistent. Please note that our advice is always to check your statement with a solicitor before submission to the Home Office.

Things to include:

  • Explain your education history and any employment you had in your country of origin or elsewhere;
  • Details of your family, such as what your parents did back home? How many siblings do you have?
  • What was it like for you growing up? What was your family environment/background like?
  • When did you realise you were LGBTQI+? How did you realise this? How did you feel?
  • Did you live openly and did anyone know/find out about your sexual orientation or gender identity? If so how, and what happened when they found out?
  • Describe any LGBTQI+ relationships or experiences you had in your home country. Did you have to hide these and how did you do this? Did you face persecution if you were caught?
  • Explain any experiences or incidents relevant to your case, e.g. any persecution you faced in the past in your country of origin, or if you managed to avoid persecution, how did you do this?
  • Describe any abuse and mistreatment you faced while in your country;
  • Explain why you decided to flee your home country, describing the events in the order they happened, ending with the reason why you decided to leave or cannot return;
  • Provide some details of your journey to the UK, even if it was a direct flight;
  • If relevant, explain why you did not claim asylum as soon as you arrived in the UK;
  • Explain why you fear returning to your country and why you believe you would be persecuted – and who or what you fear, what will happen to you if you were returned to your country?
  • Explain why you could not seek protection from the authorities in your country and why you could not relocate to a different part of your country;
  • Explain if you have any health issues – both physical and mental;
  • Are there other reasons why you want to stay in the UK? E.g. do you have family or community ties here? Have you been in the UK for a long time now?

You should also gather any evidence that you have in support of your claim.

How to submit your evidence

  1. You can print your documents and bring them with you to the interview, or
  2. You can send your documents to the Home Office by email – using the email address mentioned on your interview invitation letter. Please make sure to provide your full name, date of birth, nationality and any reference numbers.

What type of evidence can you provide?

  • Translations – Any evidence that is not in English needs to be translated into English by a certified translator. If it comes from outside the UK, you may also need to prove its genuineness and how you received it;
  • Testimony – statement preparation (see below), you can start doing this yourself from now, but you should get a lawyer to look through it and review and take a detailed statement from you.   You need to ensure everything is accurate and consistent;
  • Documentary evidence – official documents that establish aspects of your account. E.g. arrest warrant, newspaper articles, court decisions, evidence of police reports etc. It can be difficult to get this if you left your country in difficult circumstances and have no contact with family/community members still there. But if safe and possible to do so, try to get this evidence if you have it because very useful;
  • Medical evidence – evidence of any medical or psychological problems. E.g. GP letter/evidence if you have discussed mental health issues resulting from your mistreatment as an LGBTQI+ person, if you are seeking gender affirming treatment and care – any medical evidence of this, if you have medical notes from an attack in your home country or this has been noted by a doctor in the UK. A legal aid lawyer can also help you get expert medical evidence – e.g. a medico-legal report, if you have evidence of being tortured, or a psychiatric report if you have serious mental health issues;
  • Objective evidence – information about the situation in your country, e.g. from reliable sources such as human rights organisations or trusted media sources. A legal aid lawyer could also get a ‘country expert report’ which outlines in detail the situation for LGBTQI+ people in your country and how this relates to your situation;
  • Personal evidence – statements from any friends or family members who can support your case. E.g. if you have a partner, they can write a statement for you confirming you are LGBTQI+ and that you are in a relationship. Any friends, especially those who are LGBTQI+, could provide statements/letters of support too. Make sure if you get evidence from people in your life, they sign and date the statement and would be willing to come to court to support you and give evidence if your case progresses to this point. A lawyer should also check these statements before sending them to the HO. You could also get support letters from LGBTQI+ groups or organisations who have supported you – some of them will have policies where they can only provide this if they have worked with you for a long time (e.g. this is the case for RM). You can also provide other evidence to show you are part of the LGBTQI+ community, e.g. pictures at LGBTQI+ events such as Pride, evidence you have attended LGBTQI+ talks, workshops or events, proof of evidence of any LGBTQI+ groups, or evidence that you are vocal about these issues – e.g. if you post on social media about LGBTQI+ rights or have spoken publicly about this. To prove persecution, if you have evidence of threatening messages or texts e.g. from family members or your wider community, make sure to screenshot and keep these to submit as evidence and ensure translated if not in English.  If there is anyone (friends, family, organisations) that you have opened up to that would like to write a support letter, here is a helpful guide on providing letters of support.

5. Interview process

  • At the start of the interview, the Home Office will ask if you are feeling well enough to be interviewed and if you have any medical conditions. If you have any medical conditions you can bring evidence of this.
  • They will also ask you if you and the interpreter understand each other. If you do not understand the interpreter or you think they are mistranslating your words at any point in the interview, you must let the interviewer know.
  • You will be asked if your happy with screening interview record. If there are any errors in your screening interview record or there were any issues in your screening interview, you must tell the Home Office.
  • The Home Office will also ask if you want to hand in any evidence. You must translate any evidence in other languages into English before you give it to the Home Office.
  • The information you provide during the interview will be confidential and will not be shared with the authorities in your own country.
  • You may be asked questions about difficult topics but it is important that you explain what has happened to you. You can take breaks if you need, and if any question is unclear you can ask them to rephrase.
  • It’s important to tell the caseworker everything you want them to consider at this stage.
  • It is helpful to explain what has happened to you in chronological order: starting from your experiences as a child, in school, any altercations with the police and your family and ending with why you came to the UK
  • The interviewer will make notes of what you say during the interview and you should get a copy of the ‘interview record’ at the end of the interview. You can request this.
  • The Home Office expects people to claim asylum immediately when they arrive in the UK, but there may be many different reasons why people cannot claim asylum immediately. If you did not claim asylum immediately you must explain your reasons.
  • If you do not remember a date or other details, it is better to say so rather than guessing, to avoid the risk of making mistakes that may make the Home Office think you are not telling the truth (known as ‘damaging your credibility’). Throughout the interview you must maintain consistency when giving answers.
  • It is possible you will be invited for a second or third interview, or asked to provide further information in writing.  Before you attend another interview or provide written responses, please make sure you have reviewed any previous interview recordings or transcripts.
  • You can also read more about the interviews here: Asylum Substantive (Big) Interview – Right to Remain

Please note: Rainbow Migration cannot offer legal representation or carry out substantive work on your case, but we’re here to guide you and help you understand your options.