Unusual asylum case

Whilst Danielle Cohen Immigration Solicitors in London handles many asylum cases, we thought we would highlight today a particularly unusual asylum case of an individual who became a refugee sur place, i.e. whilst she was resident in the UK and after leaving her country of origin.

Our client was a Zimbabwean national.  She had not been politically active in Zimbabwe when she lived there, nor for the first seven years she was in the UK.  However, she claimed asylum following her activities in the UK and we managed to achieve full refugee status for her based on her fear of persecution due to her active role, since 2010, in protests against the Zanu PF regime including a video broadcast which we proved had been shown in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Our success in achieving refugee status needs to be judged against current UK immigration law and the leading country guidance cases of RN and CG which raised the threshold for success in achieving refugee status for asylum seekers from Zimbabwe significantly.