Thursday, 11 April 2019

Online Asylum Forms 'Only Available In English And Welsh' Despite £1.2bn Digital 'Modernisation'


11/04/2019

Online Asylum Forms 'Only Available In English And Welsh' Despite £1.2bn Digital 'Modernisation'
New online asylum appeals may only be available in English or Welsh despite a £1.2bn digital “modernisation” of British justice, HuffPost UK has learned. 
A major overhaul of tribunals announced by ministers last year revealed appeals to immigration and asylum tribunal rulings would become largely digital. 
But it has emerged the Ministry of Justice, which began piloting the move on “selected asylum appeals” in January, has no immediate plans to make forms available in other languages. 
It means asylum seekers and immigrants, the vast majority of whom no longer qualify for legal aid due to austerity, could be asked to fill out vital forms written in a language they cannot understand without help. 
The move was branded “an immediate barrier to justice” by the Law Society and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants claimed it “undermines the rule of law”. […]

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