09-13 September 2013

PP4 study visit of the Georgian delegation of asylum experts (Mr. Irakli Kokaia, Head of Refugee and Migration department of the Ministry of Refugees and Accommodation, Mr. Irakli Lomidze and Ms. Tea Dugladze, Senior Specialists of the same department) to the United Kingdom took place on 09-13 September 2013. Most of the meetings were held in Solihull, where Midlands asylum caseworkers of are located. The  participants were introduced to the structure and the work of the caseworkers as well as training teams. A wide range of UK asylum experts delivered presentations on respective topics, namely, overview of the asylum process in the UK, training courses and involvement of UK in European Asylum Curriculum (EAC), asylum interview techniques, UK system of researching Country of Origin Information (COI), etc. On the second day the participants visited Birmingham airport and were got acquainted with procedures of receiving applicants at the airport, including asylum screening interview process. On the third day participants visited Solihull Reporting Centre and had a tour to see asylum interview rooms, detention suite, fingerprint room, public waiting area and interpreters’ room. On the last day a presentation on UK Quality Assurance practices was made describing the system used to quality assess work of UK caseworkers, the role of asylum quality audit team, the UK’s quality marking standards, etc.