Legacy Cases
In July 2006, the Home Secretary announced that
there was an asylum “legacy” of around
450,000 cases, and the
Home Office would clear this legacy within 5 years. To deal with these
legacy cases, the Home Office have established a
separate directorate – the legacy directorate.
What is a legacy case?
A legacy case is any case where all of the
following apply:
there has been a claim for asylum
the Home Office records indicate that the case has
not been concluded
the case is not being dealt with by the New
Asylum Model (NAM)
A claim for asylum will include a claim for
humanitarian protection or discretionary leave,
whether or not a claim for asylum under the Refugee
Convention was made. Cases dealt with by
Model”.)
The Home Office have
not provided comprehensive or clear information regarding legacy cases.
ILPA is still seeking clarification from them.
However, it seems that legacy cases will include:
cases where the asylum claim remains outstanding
cases where there is an outstanding appeal
cases where asylum has been refused and any
appeal dismissed, but the individual
remains in the
cases where a fresh claim for asylum has been made (a
separate information sheet on
“Fresh Claims” will be produced shortly)
cases where the individual has been granted some form
of leave to enter or remain, but
this is limited and may need to be renewed (e.g. an
unaccompanied child granted
discretionary leave; a person granted discretionary leave for
medical reasons)
cases where the individual has been granted 5
years refugee leave or humanitarian
protection and may apply for indefinite leave to remain at
the end of that period
cases where the individual has left the
updated
Home Office legacy
directorate
It is intended that, by the summer, there will
be 1,000 Home Office staff working in the legacy
directorate. They will not all be caseworkers with the authority
to make decisions on individual
cases. The legacy directorate will work through all
the legacy cases.
The Home Office will consider a legacy case
concluded when the individual has left the
been granted leave to remain in the
with an appeal to the Asylum and Immigration
Tribunal. The Home Office will treat a legacy
case as closed if they cannot contact the
individual, but they will first make what they consider to
be reasonable efforts to make contact.
ILPA information sheet
ILPA information
service
funded by JRCT
www.ilpa.org.uk/
infoservice.html
Steve Symonds
ILPA legal
officer
020 7490 1553
steve.symonds
@ilpa.org.uk
Immigration Law
Practitioners’
Association
www.ilpa.org.uk
T 020 7251 8383
F 020 7251 8384
Prioritising cases
The Home Office have
identified four criteria for cases, which they will prioritise.
Those criteria
are:
cases of individuals who may pose a risk to the
public
cases of individuals who may easily be removed
cases of individuals receiving support
cases of individuals who may be granted leave to
remain
However, the Home Office have
said that it may be difficult for them to assess which cases are
priority cases and which are not. They have confirmed
they will select cases, so far as they can,
according to the criteria. If a case is selected and it
is found it does not fall within the criteria for
prioritising, the caseworker will nevertheless work it
through to conclusion.
Home Office legacy
letters and questionnaires
The Home Office have
been sending standard letters in response to letters or applications for
further leave to remain from individuals who fall
within the legacy cases. The Home Office
letters have in the past simply stated that the
individual’s case will be concluded within 5 years.
They have now confirmed that the letters will be
changed. All cases will be concluded by July
2011. That is 5 years
from the Home Secretary’s announcement.
Receiving a standard letter does not indicate
that a caseworker is actively dealing with the case.
It indicates only that the case is regarded as a
legacy case. The letter gives no indication when,
within the period up to July 2011, the case will be
dealt with. Home Office practice has been to
send information on making a voluntary departure
with the letter. This does not mean the
individual should be expected to leave the
When the Home Office select
a legacy case, they send a questionnaire to the individual. This
means the case is being actively dealt with by a
caseworker, and will be dealt with through to a
conclusion.
Legacy is not a regularisation process
Some people think the legacy questionnaire
indicates the Home Office have begun a new
‘amnesty’ exercise for
granting indefinite leave to remain to people in order to clear their
backlog. This is not correct. The Home Office may grant
leave to remain to some individuals.
However, this will only happen if the
individual’s circumstances meet existing criteria for a grant
of leave to remain.
Asking the Home Office
to deal with a case
It may be possible to ask the Home Office to
treat a case as a priority. Legal advice should be
sought before someone asks that their case is treated
as a priority. Even if the Home Office do
prioritise a case, there is a risk this results in a decision that the
person should be removed from
the