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Asylum: Applications

Asked by Sarah PochinReform UKHome OfficeTabled Answered 4 November 2025UIN 86162

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to staff who (a) examine and (b) process asylum claims on the implementation of background checks.

Answered by Alex Norris

Asylum caseworkers receive extensive training and mentoring for the role. All asylum claimants are subject to mandatory security checks to establish their identity and to link it to their biometric details for the purpose of immigration, security and criminality checks - including war crimes, crimes against humanity and terrorism.

The Home Office performs mandatory identity verification and security checks on individuals applying to enter or remain in the UK. These checks are set out in comprehensive, internal guidance called the UK Visas and Immigration Operating Mandate (OM). To protect the integrity of the specific identity and security checking processes that are conducted under the OM, the information contained within it is not disclosed publicly.

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