Step 1 · The basics
What asylum is: five grounds, what is checked and what you get
Asylum is protection the UK is obliged to give a person for whom it is dangerous to go home. It's an obligation under the 1951 Convention, not a favour. Below: how the system works and what to do first.
Video · 59 minutes · in Russian
The whole asylum procedure in one video
How the asylum procedure works in the UK: who can claim, how the screening interview and the substantive interview go, what happens after the decision and which mistakes cost the most. This is an explanation of the system, not advice on your case.
After watching, you will know
- Who has the right to claim asylum and what the five Convention grounds are.
- How to claim: at the airport or by phone if you're already in the country, and why your visa expiry is the deadline that matters most.
- What happens at the screening interview, what the ARC card gives you and what to bring.
- Section 98 / 95 housing, the ASPEN card and the amounts, what you can and can't do while you wait.
- Who has the right to advise you and how to spot a scammer.
- The substantive interview and your rights, how the case is considered and how long to wait.
- What to do in the 42 days after a positive decision, what to do after a refusal, the path to ILR and citizenship.
Watch
Presented by Timur Nygmetov, Executive Director of Qadam London, who went through the whole procedure himself. You can watch it by chapter: below is a minute-by-minute contents list, and each line takes you to the right point in the video.
Video contents by minute (45 chapters)
- 00:00 What this video is about
- 00:30 Who I am and why I'm talking about this
- 01:33 Important: this is not advice
- 02:26 What asylum is and where it came from
- 03:35 Three statuses: asylum seeker, refugee, migrant
- 05:19 The five grounds from the Convention
- 06:12 You're not required to hide
- 06:59 What the Home Office knows about our countries
- 07:43 What matters is where you are now, not how you arrived
- 08:19 While your visa is valid — that's your key deadline
- 10:08 The whole journey: eight stages
- 10:33 Claiming at the airport
- 11:20 Claiming by phone if you're already here
- 12:28 Screening interview: how it goes
- 13:48 Two questions you need to prepare for
- 14:21 The ARC card: what it is and what it gives you
- 15:33 An interpreter and an officer of your gender
- 16:11 What to bring
- 18:11 Housing: sections 95 and 98
- 20:09 Money: the ASPEN card and the amounts
- 20:56 Migrant Help — where support begins
- 21:27 What you can and can't do while you wait
- 22:30 Work: honestly and without illusions
- 25:10 Your duties: address, letters, appointments
- 26:33 Doctor and NHS — straight away and free
- 27:52 Who has the right to advise you
- 30:02 How to spot a scammer
- 31:19 The substantive interview and your rights
- 32:38 Which documents to prepare
- 35:53 How the case is considered
- 37:24 How long to wait
- 39:13 A positive decision: 30 months or 5 years
- 39:57 What status gives you
- 40:59 The 42-day move-on period and first steps
- 43:29 Refusal and appeal
- 45:25 What you must never do
- 46:43 The path to ILR and citizenship
- 48:04 What asylum doesn't give you
- 48:57 Common mistakes
- 51:19 Frequently asked questions
- 53:50 The website, the bot and the step-by-step plan
- 56:03 Settling in: four pillars
- 56:54 Who Qadam London are
- 58:04 Phone numbers worth writing down
How it works: three facts
Non-refoulement
The main principle: if a person faces persecution at home, a country has no right to send them back. It's set out in the 1951 Refugee Convention.
You can only claim from inside Britain
A claim is only accepted from someone who is already in the UK. You can't claim from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan or Turkmenistan. How to claim: gov.uk/claim-asylum.
The Home Office decides
Not a court and not the police: a specific Home Office caseworker reads the case and gives a written decision.
Five grounds: what protection is given for
You can scroll the table sideways.
| Ground | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Race | Persecution because of your ethnic origin |
| Religion | Because of your faith, or because you left it |
| Nationality | Because you belong to a particular national group |
| Political opinion | Because of what you said, wrote or supported |
| Membership of a particular social group | The broadest ground. This is where cases about sexual orientation and gender identity fall |
Four things the Home Office checks
1. You belong to the group you say you belong to
In our cases it's sexual orientation or gender identity. The main evidence is your own account. Most people have no documents, and the system knows that.
2. There is a well-founded fear of persecution
Not "things are bad at home" in general, but a specific risk to you personally: what happened, what was said, what you expect if you go back.
3. Moving within the country is not an option (internal relocation)
The caseworker has to consider whether you could live safely in another city in your own country. An example from our cases: the "propaganda" law applies across the whole country, the police are the same everywhere, and relatives and the diaspora will find you anywhere.
4. The state does not protect you (no state protection)
The police persecute you themselves, look the other way, or simply can't be approached. A police report that got no response is part of this point.
Exactly how this comes through in your story is a question for your representative, not for us.
What you get in the end
You can scroll the table sideways.
| Decision | What this means |
|---|---|
| Refugee status | The main positive outcome: permission to stay, the right to work without restrictions, access to benefits. For claims made from 2 March 2026 it's granted for 30 months (before that, a minimum of 5 years). At renewal they review the situation in your country, so don't throw away your case papers after you get status. What next: «Positive decision» |
| Humanitarian protection | When there is a risk, but it doesn't fall under the five Convention grounds. The rights are roughly the same |
| Refusal | Not the end. 14 days to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, and many refusals are overturned. In detail: «Refusal or detention» |
Three things you must not do
What to do right now
Find a legal aid lawyer
Open find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk, enter your postcode and choose the category “Immigration or asylum”. At the same time, call the Refugee Council on 0808 196 7272. Ready-made phrases for the call are on the «Free lawyer» page.
Understand the two interviews
Screening interview: a short first meeting, biometrics, basic details. Substantive interview: the main conversation about your case. They are two different days, and you mustn't mix them up.
Start a timeline
A notebook or a file: dates, places, events, names, in order, while you still remember. You'll hand it to your lawyer later. Reconstructing it a year on is much harder.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to pay anything to claim?
Can I claim from my own country or from the embassy?
Who makes the decision?
I was refused in another country or in the past. Is that the end?
What happens to my family if I get status?
Official sources
Claiming asylum
GOV.UK: official guidance
Open →Sexual identity issues in the asylum claim
GOV.UK: Home Office guidance on LGBT cases
Open →Leaflet for applicants
GOV.UK: how the process works, officially
Open →Find a legal aid lawyer
Ministry of Justice, category Immigration or asylum
Open →Right to Remain Toolkit
The whole process in plain language
Open →Rainbow Migration
Support for LGBTQI+ people in the asylum process
Open →Qadam London
How Qadam London can help
- We'll explain in plain language what the Home Office letter says and what it means for the procedure.
- We'll give you contacts for free lawyers and show you how to check their registration on the IAA / SRA register before the first meeting.
- We'll put you in touch with people from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan who have already been through this.
Phone numbers at this stage
Find a lawyer
0808 196 7272Refugee Council. Referral to a lawyer, helpline in several languages.
Free
Asylum and LGBTQI+
020 3752 5801Rainbow Migration. 18+, you're in the UK, you have your own lawyer.
Services are free
Support, housing, ASPEN card
0808 801 0503Migrant Help. Applying for support, complaints about accommodation.
24 hours, interpreter available
Struggling and no one to talk to
116 123Samaritans. You can call in any state.
24 hours, free
LGBTQ+ support line
0800 0119 100Switchboard. Coming out, loneliness, fear.
Daily 10:00–22:00
Danger right now
999Police, ambulance, fire. If you can't speak, press 55 silently.
24 hours
Personal plan · free · 24 hours
Don't know where you, personally, should start?
Describe your situation — we'll send it back step by step: where to go in your area, which legal aid lawyer is nearby, what to bring to the first meeting.