UK Visas and Immigration apologised for delay on an asylum claim

What happened

When Mr R made further submissions, UKVI was dealing with a backlog of old asylum cases - it called this the 'legacy case backlog'. Mr R's case fell into this category. UKVI had committed to deal with these cases by July 2011. But it did not deal with Mr R's case until much later.

What we found

UKVI said that the legacy cases were old and complex. But we found that Mr R's case took so long because of UKVI's poor handling. It placed his case in an archive for cases in which it was unable to trace the applicant. It left it there for 18 months even though it heard from Mr R, his representatives, and his MP during this time. After taking the case out of the archive, UKVI still failed to get it right. It incorrectly considered that the case was concluded because it had not logged Mr R's further submissions on its case handling system. UKVI should have concluded Mr R's case much earlier.

Putting it right

While he waited for a decision from UKVI, Mr R was able to live and work in the UK as he had rights of residence under European law. But having to wait so long for UKVI to consider his further submissions caused him uncertainty and anxiety about the likely outcome. We recommended that UKVI apologise to Mr R for this, which it did.