If the applicant can not provide sufficient evidence to support one’s claim and the Home Office has refused the previous asylum or humanitarian protection claim of the applicant. The applicant has also exhausted the appeal rights. However, the applicant has got evidence now or there is a major change in the applicant’s own circumstances or one’s home country situation which is significant. The applicant thinks that if the evidence were available earlier or the significant change in circumstances has occurred before, the Home Office or Appeal decision could be different or have better prospects of success. The applicant can apply for submission of new additional evidence or further representations following the previous asylum or humanitarian protection claim refusal decision and request the Home Office to treat ‘further submissions’ as a ‘fresh claim’. This process is about an application of further submissions within the UK. It does not apply to the overseas claims.

The Paragraph 353 of Part 12 of the Immigration Rules deals with how the Home Office should consider a fresh claim. All ‘further submissions’ made on protection grounds following the refusal of asylum or humanitarian protection must be ‘made in person’ at the Further Submissions Unit (FSU) in Liverpool. Claimants must make an appointment to attend the FSU. However, owing to Covid-19 precautions and restrictions, the Home Office may also advise to accept ‘fresh claim’ by email.

Paragraph 353 of Part 12 of the Immigration Rules states:

“353. When a human rights or protection claim has been refused or withdrawn or treated as withdrawn under paragraph 333C of these Rules and any appeal relating to that claim is no longer pending, the decision maker will consider any further submissions and, if rejected, will then determine whether they amount to a fresh claim if they are significantly different from the material that has previously been considered. The submissions will only be significantly different if the content:

(i) had not already been considered; and

(ii) taken together with the previously considered material, created a realistic prospect of success, notwithstanding its rejection. This paragraph does not apply to claims made overseas.

353A. Consideration of further submissions shall be subject to the procedures set out in these Rules. An applicant who has made further submissions shall not be removed before the Secretary of State has considered the submissions under paragraph 353 or otherwise.

Exceptional Circumstances

353B. Where further submissions have been made and the decision maker has established whether they amount to a fresh claim under paragraph 353 of these Rules, or in cases with no outstanding further submissions whose appeal rights have been exhausted and which are subject to a review, the decision maker will also have regard to the migrant’s:

(i) character, conduct and associations including any criminal record and the nature of any offence of which the migrant concerned has been convicted;

(ii) compliance with any conditions attached to any previous grant of leave to enter or remain and compliance with any conditions of temporary admission or immigration bail where applicable;

(iii) length of time spent in the United Kingdom spent for reasons beyond the migrant’s control after the human rights or asylum claim has been submitted or refused;

in deciding whether there are exceptional circumstances which mean that removal from the United Kingdom is no longer appropriate.

This paragraph does not apply to submissions made overseas.

This paragraph does not apply where the person is liable to deportation.

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The Home Office Legal Test under Paragraph 353:

The new additional evidence must be ‘significantly different from’ any earlier representations to the Home Office.

The Home Office considers ‘further submissions’ ‘significantly different’ if:

(a) had not already been considered;

and

(b) taken together with the previously considered material, created a realistic prospect of success, notwithstanding its rejection.

The applicant must state why that evidence was not available previously and was not submitted earlier. The applicant also needs to explain how, when, and why one got that evidence now. This reasoning with the evidence is required to demonstrate it ‘significantly different’ from the previous submissions. The applicant must also give reasons that why one believes it must be considered and how it has prospects of success. It is the Home Office discretion to consider the applicant’s evidence and reasons credible to satisfy the legal test. The Home Office also reviews the previous decisions and judgements to ascertain why the earlier claim was refused and appeal lost to assess the significance of the new evidence.

The applicant is judged as a witness and if the asylum seeker or humanitarian protection claimant fails to corroborate the story with sufficient evidence at first instance, the applicant’s credibility is questioned, which reduces the applicant’s prospects of success. The credibility issue is crucial. However, a ‘fresh claim’ is another opportunity for the applicant to contradict the previous findings with further submissions. Better-quality evidence than the previous evidence and better-reasoning as compared to the previous reasoning may bring a change in result or render better prospects of success. The Home Office deems the new evidence to confirm relevance to a claim of asylum, humanitarian protection or human rights.

Significant Political Changes:

The claimant can claim a drastic political change in one’s home country e.g., a hostile government. The applicant can fear of persecution due to significant political change or danger to life owing to one’s previous political affiliations and activities in home country or present political inclinations and activities in the UK which might be detrimental to one’s returning to home country. The burden of proof is on the applicant. The Home Office country guidance, judgements exposing the Home Office illegal practices, and relevant case laws and legal developments must be substantiated to support the reasoning and evidence.

Significant Change in Personal Circumstances:

The applicant’s own circumstances may change with the time. He may have a significant health condition which can restrict the Home Office to remove the applicant. The claimant’s sexuality either changed or the applicant developed a new sexual orientation. The applicant either changed the religion or adopted new practices which could be a cause of one’s persecution in one’s native country if deported back to the home country. The applicant may have a ‘private’ and ‘family life’ in the UK. The applicant developed a relationship with the time which is a notable change in one’s life. The applicant can have a partner, and a child as well. The applicant’s private life invokes human rights, and it is a significantly different situation from the situation one was earlier in at the time of previous claim. The applicant knows one’s best interest to decide for applying a fresh claim. The lawyers can advise the applicant about legal prospects of further submissions and represent one in the Home Office, Immigration Tribunals and Courts.