Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government from what date asylum applications were first treated as withdrawn on the basis that the claimant failed to report or to inform the Home Office of a change of address.

We do not currently publish data on the date asylum claims were first treated as withdrawn on the basis that the claimant failed to report or to inform the Home Office of a change of address. However, official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, as well as quality and availability of data.

Changes to the Immigration Rules were laid on 17 July 2023 and implemented on 7 August 2023 which included amending paragraph 333C to provide clarification on the circumstances in which an asylum claim can be treated as withdrawn.

The withdrawal of asylum claims is not a new process. It is a longstanding principle that claims that are explicitly or implicitly withdrawn will have their consideration discontinued. At each step of the asylum process, claimants are warned about the importance of complying with the asylum process and the prospect of withdrawal of their asylum claim should they fail to do so.