UK Visas and Immigration guidance on how staff make decisions when an asylum applicant claims to be a child with little or no evidence.
This guidance is under review. The age assessment joint working guidance (2015) has replaced the joint working protocol (2005) contained in this asylum instruction. This provides guidance on joint working and information sharing between the Home Office and local authorities.
Published 17 June 2011 Last updated 18 November 2022 +show all updates
The document has been amended to take into account the commencement of certain provisions of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, including the introduction of the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) on 28 June 2022.
The document has been amended to reflect changes to the initial age assessment policy following the judgment of the Supreme Court in R (BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.
Updated for end of EU transition period.
Guidance document updated.
PDF document "Assessing age" was replaced with an updated version.
Updated guidance.
Link to the age assessment joint working guidance (2015) added.