If you have claimed asylum in the UK, you might be told that your claim is not going to be considered. The Home Office may say that it will not look at your asylum claim in the UK because it says you have a connection to another country where you have, or could have asked for, protection. This is called inadmissibility.

On this page, you will find the following information: 

• What does inadmissibility mean?
• What is a safe third country?
  • What is a connection to a safe third country?
• Who shouldn’t go through the inadmissibility process?
• How does the Home Office decide if you have a connection to a safe third country? 
• What is a Notice of Intent?
  • Action Section: How can you respond to a Notice of Intent?
• What happens if your claim is declared inadmissible?
  • Action Section: If you asylum claim is declared inadmissible
• What if removal to another country does not happen?
• Inadmissibility and asylum support
• Humanitarian protection and human rights claims
• Can you appeal an inadmissibility decision?
• Inadmissibility and fresh claims
• Action Section: If you are struggling to find legal advice
• What happened to the Rwanda plan?

What does inadmissibility mean? 

Usually, when you claim asylum in the UK, the Home Office should look at your asylum claim and decide whether you need protection.

Sometimes the Home Office may say that it does not have to look at your asylum claim in the UK. This is called inadmissibility. You can read the official Home Office guidance here.

The Home Office may try to treat your claim as inadmissible if it says you have a connection to a safe third country.

If the Home Office decides that your asylum claim is inadmissible, it will usually not consider whether you need protection from the country you are from. Instead, the Home Office may try to remove you to another country that it says is safe.

If the Home Office decides later that it is unlikely to be able to remove you to a safe third country within a reasonable time, your asylum claim should then go through the asylum process in the UK. 

There is no fixed amount of time for what the Home Office considers to be a  “reasonable time”. The Home Office should look at your situation, including whether another country is likely to accept you and why removal has been delayed. 

If the Home Office is considering using the inadmissibility process in your case, it will normally send you a letter called a Notice of Intent before making a decision. This is not a final decision. It tells you that the Home Office is considering inadmissibility and gives you a chance to respond. We explain Notices of Intent in more detail below.

What is a safe third country?

A safe third country means a country that is not the country you are from. It is a country where the Home Office says you would be safe and could ask for protection.

The Home Office may say a country is safe if it believes:

• your life or freedom would not be at risk there because of your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group;
• you would not be sent from that country to another country where you would face persecution, torture, or inhuman or degrading treatment;
• you could claim asylum or ask for protection there; and
• if you were recognised as a refugee, you could receive protection there.

This does not mean that the country is safe for everyone, or that you have to agree that it would be safe for you. It means that the Home Office says the country is safe in your case.

You may be able to give reasons why you should not be removed there. 

For example, the Home Office may say that France is a safe third country. You may still be able to explain why you should not be removed to France because of a serious risk of harm there, your health, or your family or private life in the UK.

What is a connection to a safe third country?

The law describes five ways that the Home Office may say you have a connection to a safe third country.

The Home Office may say that your asylum claim is inadmissible because they think that:

• you were already recognised as a refugee in a safe third country and can still receive protection there;
• you already had another type of protection in a safe third country and can still receive that protection there;
• you claimed asylum or asked for protection in a safe third country, and that claim has not been decided or was refused;
• you were in a safe third country where you could have claimed protection, and it would have been reasonable to expect you to claim there, but you did not; or
• you have a connection to another safe country, even if you were not there on your journey to the UK, and in your particular circumstances it would have been reasonable to expect you to claim protection there instead.

If the Home Office says that you should have claimed asylum in another country, it will decide this in a letter where you may see words like “reasonable” or “could reasonably have claimed asylum”. This means the Home Office is saying that, in your circumstances, it was fair to expect you to ask for protection in that country rather than in the UK.

This does not mean the Home Office is definitely right. The Home Office should consider your explanation for why you did not claim asylum in that country. If it accepts what you say happened, it must then decide whether it was still reasonable to expect you to claim asylum there in your specific situation.

For example, it may be important to explain:

• whether you could actually access the asylum system;
• whether you were afraid of particular people or groups;
• whether someone was controlling you or preventing you from claiming asylum;
• whether your physical or mental health affected what you were able to do;
• whether you would have been at risk of serious harm in that country; and
• what happened during your journey, including why you left that country.

If problems with the asylum system meant that you could not actually use it, the Home Office should not say your claim is inadmissible on the basis that you should have claimed asylum there.

Simply travelling through or spending time in another country does not automatically mean that it was reasonable to expect you to claim asylum there.

For example:

• The Home Office may say that you have a connection to France because you travelled through France before coming to the UK. It may say that it was reasonable to expect you to claim asylum there. You may disagree. You can explain what happened to you in France and why, in your circumstances, you could not or did not claim asylum there.
• The Home Office may say you flew to the UK via another country and that it was reasonable to expect you to claim asylum when you reached the first country. You may disagree and can explain why this was not possible for you and why you continued your journey to the UK.

Who shouldn’t go through the inadmissibility process?

Some people should not be put through the safe third country inadmissibility process, and there are also different rules for some other groups, including families with children and EU nationals.

Unaccompanied children/separate young people

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (children under 18 who are in the UK without a parent or another adult responsible for their care), should not be put through the safe third country inadmissibility process. 

The current Home Office guidance says that unaccompanied children are not suitable for this process and their asylum claims must instead be considered in the UK.

However, If the Home Office finds a close family member in another country who could care for the child, it may ask the child to withdraw their asylum claim so they can go and live with that family member.

Before this can happen, the Home Office should check that this would be a safe and suitable arrangement for the child. It should check that:

• the family member wants to care for the child;
• UK social services agree that the family member is able and suitable to care for them;
• the child agrees to go and live with the family member;
• living with the family member would be in the child’s best interests. Best interests means that the child’s safety, wellbeing and needs have been properly considered; and
• the other country agrees to let the child enter and live there.

The Home Office may only ask a child to withdraw their asylum claim for family reunion if all of these conditions are met.

People whose age is disputed

Sometimes the Home Office does not accept that someone is under 18. This is called an age dispute or an age concern. You can read more about age disputes and age assessments here.

If the Home Office disputes someone’s age, but they are being treated as a child while their age is being assessed, they must not be put into the inadmissibility process at that time.

If they are later found to be an adult, the Home Office may then consider whether the inadmissibility process should apply to them.

Sometimes a person may already have been treated as an adult, but their age is later being formally assessed by a local authority.

If this happens, and the local authority takes the person into its care while the age assessment is happening, the Home Office must pause the inadmissibility process.

While the process is paused:

• the Home Office must not make an inadmissibility decision; and
• if it has already made an inadmissibility decision, the person must not be removed.

The inadmissibility process can only continue if the person is later treated as an adult.

If you are being treated as an adult but you say you are under 18, get legal advice and support as soon as possible. 

Families with children

Families with children can be put through the safe third country inadmissibility process, but the Home Office must think carefully about how its decision will affect any children in the family.

It must consider what is best for the child when deciding what to do. This is very important, but the Home Office can also consider other things when making its decision.

If the Home Office decides to remove a family with children, it must follow the Family Returns Process. This is the Home Office guidance about how families with children should be treated during the returns process. You can read the official guidance here.

EU/EEA nationals

Different rules apply if you are a national of an EU country.

The Home Office will usually not consider an asylum claim made by an EU national. Instead, it will usually say that the claim is inadmissible under a separate process for EU nationals. You can read the official guidance here. 

There are some exceptions which are called ‘exceptional circumstances’. The Home Office may have to consider the asylum claim if there are serious concerns about human rights or the rule of law in the person’s country. Rule of law means that the government must follow the law, courts must be independent, and people must be able to use the law to protect their rights.

For example, there is an official EU process for countries where there are serious concerns about these basic rights and protections. This process is currently open for Hungary. This means that the current Home Office guidance says that asylum claims made by Hungarian nationals must not currently be declared inadmissible under the EU process.

If the Home Office cannot use the EU inadmissibility process, it may still consider whether the safe third country inadmissibility process explained on this page applies because the person has a connection to another country.

Different rules apply to people from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. They are not included in the EU inadmissibility process. Their asylum claims must normally be considered in the UK, unless the safe third country inadmissibility process applies.

For more information, read our page on EU and EEA nationals.

How does the Home Office decide if you have a connection to a safe third country? 

The Home Office may use information it already has about you to decide whether you have a connection to another country.

This may include information from:

• your screening interview, when you first claim asylum;
• your asylum interview, if you have already had one;
• what you have said about your journey to the UK;
• documents or other evidence about your journey;
• information from other countries;
• fingerprint or biometric records; and
• information about any asylum claims or immigration history you have in other countries.

The Home Office may ask you why you did not claim asylum in another country before coming to the UK.

The Home Office should also think about whether another country is likely to agree to accept you back. Usually, the Home Office will ask another country if it will accept you before it makes a final inadmissibility decision. In some cases, it may make the decision before another country has agreed.

The Home Office may try to remove you to a different safe country, not only the country it says you have a connection to. The other country must agree to accept you.

The Home Office can start looking at inadmissibility soon after you claim asylum. It can also do this later, for example after your asylum interview. However, it should not start the inadmissibility process after it has already made and sent you a decision on your asylum claim.

If the Home Office thinks your claim may be inadmissible, a specialist Home Office team called the Third Country Unit (TCU) may look at your case.

Even if the Home Office thinks the inadmissibility rules could apply to you, it does not have to use them. It should still look at your situation and decide whether your asylum claim should be considered in the UK.

What is a Notice of Intent?

A Notice of Intent is a letter from the Home Office.

If the Home Office is thinking about using the inadmissibility process in your case, it will normally send you a Notice of Intent before it makes a decision.

A Notice of Intent is not a final decision.

It means the Home Office is still deciding whether your asylum claim should be treated as inadmissible.

It does not mean that your claim is already inadmissible. It also does not mean that you will definitely be removed from the UK.

The letter should tell you:

• which country or countries the Home Office is looking at;
• why the Home Office thinks you may have a connection to that country; and
• how you can respond.

If the Home Office later starts looking at a different country, it should send you another Notice of Intent which names that country.

Different rules can apply if you were previously removed from the UK, or left the UK, after an inadmissibility decision and later returned and claimed asylum again.

You can still be detained while the Home Office is deciding whether to use the inadmissibility process. Read more about immigration detention here. 

If you receive a Notice of Intent, try to get legal advice as soon as possible. This is especially important if you are detained or the Home Office says that it may remove you from the UK.

What happens if your claim is declared inadmissible?

After the Home Office has sent you a Notice of Intent and considered anything you sent in response, it may decide that your asylum claim is inadmissible. If it does, it should send you a decision letter explaining why.

This means the Home Office has decided not to look at why you need protection from the country you are from. This is different from refusing your asylum claim.

If the Home Office refuses an asylum claim, it has looked at the reasons why the person says they need protection and decided not to grant asylum. You can read our Toolkit page on decisions on asylum claims here. 

If the Home Office says your claim is inadmissible, it has not made a decision about whether you need protection from your own country. Instead, it has decided that your claim should not be considered in the UK because it says you have a connection to a safe third country.

The decision letter should explain:

• why the Home Office says your claim is inadmissible;
• which country or countries it is looking at;
• why it says you have a connection to another country;
• what information or evidence it has used; and
• what it has decided about anything you told the Home Office in response to the Notice of Intent.

If your claim is inadmissible, the Home Office may try to remove you to a safe third country.

The Home Office may try to remove you to the country it says you have a connection to. It may also try to remove you to a different safe country if that country agrees to accept you.

What if removal to another country does not happen?

The Home Office may not be able to remove you to another country.

For example, another country may refuse to accept you. There may also be delays which mean that removal is unlikely to happen soon.

There is no fixed amount of time for how long the Home Office can wait. It should look at what is happening in your case, including whether another country is likely to accept you and why removal has been delayed.

If the Home Office decides that you are unlikely to be removed to another country within a reasonable time, it should start considering your asylum claim in the UK.

This means it should look at why you say you need protection from the country you are from.

The Home Office can also decide to consider your asylum claim in the UK after it has already said that your claim is inadmissible.

It may do this if there are important reasons in your case which mean that your asylum claim should be considered in the UK.

Inadmissibility and asylum support 

If you are receiving asylum support (money and/or housing from the Home Office) getting a Notice of Intent does not stop your asylum support. At this point, the Home Office has not yet decided that your asylum claim is inadmissible.

If the Home Office later decides that your claim is inadmissible, your asylum support may change.

If you receive section 95 support and there is no child under 18 who depends on you living with you, your section 95 support will usually continue for 21 days after you are told about the inadmissibility decision. After the 21 days, your section 95 support will usually stop.

You may be able to apply for section 4 support if you have no money or place to live. Section 4 support does not start automatically. You need to apply for it, and the Home Office will decide whether you qualify.

Different rules apply if a child under 18 who depends on you lives with you. Your section 95 support may continue while the child is under 18, as long as you still qualify for asylum support.

If the Home Office later decides to consider your asylum claim in the UK, and you are receiving section 4 support, you should normally be moved back onto section 95 support.

If you receive an inadmissibility decision and you get asylum support, try to get advice about what will happen to your support. You may need to apply for section 4 support before your section 95 support ends. 

Humanitarian protection and human rights claim

If the Home Office decides that your asylum claim is inadmissible, it will also treat a claim for humanitarian protection based on the same reasons as inadmissible.

Human rights claims are different.

You can still tell the Home Office that removing you to another country would breach your human rights. The Home Office must consider this before it removes you.

For example, you may want to explain that:

• you would be at risk of serious harm in that country;
• your health would be seriously affected;
• you would have no safe place to live or no way to meet your basic needs;
• that country might send you somewhere else where you would be at risk; or
• removal would seriously affect your family or private life in the UK.

If you think removing you to another country would breach your human rights, try to get legal advice as soon as possible.

Can you appeal an inadmissibility decision?

You cannot appeal the decision that your asylum claim is inadmissible. This is because the Home Office has not refused your asylum claim.

You may be able to challenge an inadmissibility decision through judicial review.

Judicial review is a way of asking a court to look at whether the Home Office made its decision lawfully.

This is different from an appeal.

Different rules apply if you also told the Home Office that removing you to another country would breach your human rights.

If the Home Office refuses your human rights claim, you may have a right of appeal. Your decision letter should tell you if you have a right to appeal.

In some cases, the Home Office can decide that a human rights claim is “clearly unfounded”. This means that the Home Office thinks the claim has no real possibility of succeeding. If it makes this decision, you will not have a right of appeal against the refusal of that human rights claim.

Judicial review can be complicated and there are time limits for starting a case.

Starting a judicial review does not always stop the Home Office from removing you. Whether removal must be stopped depends on what happens in the legal challenge.

If you receive an inadmissibility decision, try to get legal advice as soon as possible. This is particularly urgent if the Home Office tells you that it plans to remove you from the UK.

Inadmissibility and fresh claims

A fresh claim is a process for people whose asylum or human rights claim has already been refused. It may apply if they later give the Home Office important new information or evidence, after any appeal has finished.

An inadmissibility decision is different because the Home Office has not refused your asylum claim. It has not decided whether you need protection from the country you are from.

If you are still in the UK after an inadmissibility decision, you can still send the Home Office new information or evidence.

For example, you may want to explain:

• why you think the inadmissibility decision is wrong;
• why you should not be removed to another country; or
• something new that has happened since the decision.

The Home Office should consider this information. This is not usually treated as a fresh claim.

Different rules can apply if you have made a separate human rights claim. If your human rights claim was refused and any appeal has finished, new information about your human rights may sometimes be considered under the fresh claims process.

If you were removed from the UK, or left the UK, after an inadmissibility decision and later return and claim asylum again, this is different.

The Home Office should treat this as a new asylum claim. It can then consider again whether the inadmissibility rules apply to your new claim.

If your asylum claim has been declared inadmissible and you have new information or evidence, try to get legal advice about what to send to the Home Office and how it should be considered.

What happened to the Rwanda plan?

The Rwanda plan was a policy created by the previous UK government. It planned to send some people who claimed asylum in the UK to Rwanda.

The Home Office ended the Rwanda plan in July 2024. The law made specifically for the Rwanda plan was later removed in December 2025. This means the Home Office is no longer using the Rwanda plan to send people to Rwanda.

However, the wider safe third country inadmissibility rules described on this page still exist.