Immigration and asylum files: what to redact before a document leaves the file

In the UK, asylum and other protection appeals start anonymised. The First-tier Tribunal removes the appellant's name from published documents and court lists when the case is created. But every copy you send outside the file, to an expert, an interpreter, a charity or a relative, is your decision.

Redaction is for those copies, never for the tribunal, which must see each filed document in full. An expert receives the facts that matter for the question asked. Hide the client's account from a country expert, and the report may miss the point the appeal turns on.

Who decides what: the tribunal or you?

Under rule 13(1) of its 2014 procedure rules, the tribunal can forbid publishing or disclosing anything likely to identify a person. Its President's Guidance Note No 2 of 2022 says such an anonymity order can bind anyone, not just the parties. Breaking it may be contempt of court.

The Upper Tribunal's Guidance Note 2022 No 2 (February 2022) warns that its decisions are online and indexed by search engines. A name search can find relatives and witnesses too. Protection appellants appear as initials by default. Some people, such as those who say they were trafficked, are anonymous by law for life.

So the order does not decide what your expert receives. Two rules still bind you. A rule 13(2) direction can bar a document from reaching a given person. Material released only to you as representative goes no further without the tribunal's consent, under rule 13(6).

Which identifiers hide in an immigration file?

• Home Office reference, and GWF or UAN visa application numbers.
• Appeal numbers, such as PA/12345/2026.
• Passport, ID and BRP numbers. BRPs were replaced by eVisas, the Home Office says, but copies remain.
• NHS number, GP practice, clinic and hospital.
• Addresses in the UK and of family abroad.
• Names of persecutors, witnesses, relatives and helpers.
• Phone numbers, social media accounts, message screenshots.

Then look for details that identify without a name: a village, an ethnic group, a political role, a rare injury, an arrest date. Jane Example's statement describes the only woman on her district's party committee. Her whole town knows who she is. The Upper Tribunal warns that initials may not be enough while precise family details or a place of origin remain.

Many such details are special category data under Article 9 of the UK GDPR. These include ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health and sexual orientation. The First-tier guidance suggests vaguer wording for decisions, such as formerly living in a city in the home country.

What should each recipient receive, document by document?

This is information, not legal advice. Adjust the table with your client, and ask the recipient when unsure what they need. Full means unredacted. Elsewhere, mask what the recipient's role does not need.

An order can even stop the appellant from talking to the media, the First-tier guidance notes, so check it before any press contact. An AI tool or online translator is a third party: what you paste has left the file.

What do experts, interpreters and translators need?

A medical expert needs the full history: injuries, scars, dates and the client's account. That detail is the evidence. A charity needs far less, often just the conclusion on vulnerability.

A country expert needs the facts the question turns on: region, ethnic group, political role, dates. Keep them, even though they identify. Mask the rest: name, Home Office references, UK address, NHS number, relatives' contacts. Say in your letter of instruction that the facts are confidential.

Under rule 12(5), a document filed in another language needs an English translation, so the translator usually needs it whole. Pick one bound by confidentiality. For a draft, an online tool or an AI assistant, use fixed pseudonyms such as Witness A or Village 1. Keep the key in the file. Real names and references never go in.

How do France and Germany protect the same documents?

In France, OFPRA, the asylum office, says its interviews are strictly confidential: nothing goes to relatives or to the country of origin. On appeal, the CNDA court's website shows outcomes by date, hearing room and file number. So treat a CNDA file number as an identifier.

In Germany, section 25 of the Asylum Act makes the interview at the BAMF, the federal asylum office, non-public. The BAMF says every interview is audio recorded. That recording may not be published, even in part. Outside the BAMF, only people entitled to inspect the file may get it.

How do you check a redacted copy before it leaves?

1. Read the anonymity order and any rule 13(2) direction.
2. Ask your client what may go to whom. Note it.
3. Work on a copy. Send only the pages needed.
4. Mask identifiers, then details that identify without a name.
5. Try to copy the masked text. If it pastes, start again.
6. Check headers, footers, the bundle index and the file name.
7. Record what went to whom, and why.

ONYRI Sanitize works inside your browser. Once it recognises a document as British, it masks GWF references, appeal numbers, NHS numbers, street addresses and capitalised names in a court heading. Passport, BRP and Home Office numbers are reliably masked only after their label. It cannot judge a village, an ethnicity or a political role, and it can miss a reference. Over five pages, you need the 7-day pass or Pro.

Whatever the tool, a person reviews every page. As the Upper Tribunal notes, anonymity is much harder to achieve once information is public.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & references