THE UK Home Office has been accused of acting illegally when it invited Zimbabwean government officials to interview an asylum seeker at an immigration centre.

The Zimbabwean woman, who has been in the UK for more than 16 years and has an ongoing asylum claim, attended Vulcan House in Sheffield in December to find Zimbabwean officials waiting to speak to her.

She is one of scores of Zimbabweans to have been interviewed by Zimbabwean embassy officials at Home Office centres across the UK over the past few months, in what has been seen as an acceleration of the removals process since the country’s change of government.

The Home Office described the interviews as routine “redocumentation interviews” to establish the identity of a refused asylum seeker so that travel documentation can be issued and they can be removed from the UK.

In a letter to immigration minister Caroline Nokes, Paul Blomfield, the MP for Sheffield Central, said that as her claim to asylum was outstanding, subjecting her to such an interview contravened immigration rules. She had submitted her latest claim on 5 October last year.

UK rules state that no action should be taken to remove an individual from the UK until a decision on their asylum claim has been made.

In his letter, the MP said the interview had put his constituent at greater risk of persecution by the Zimbabwean government.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Re-documentation interviews with officials from receiving countries are a standard part of the Home Office returns process.

“These interviews are conducted where an asylum claim has failed and it is necessary to establish nationality and identity and to enable a travel document to be produced to facilitate return. They do not have a bearing on an asylum application.”

— The Guardian.