Britain scraps interviews for 12,000 asylum seekers to speed up process

People stand inside a fenced off area inside the migrant processing centre in Manston, Britain, November 7, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will scrap the requirement for around 12,000 asylum seekers to undergo face-to-face interviews and instead ask them to fill out a questionnaire, the government said on Thursday, in an attempt to clear record levels of backlogs.

The interior ministry, or Home Office, said all asylum seekers would still be subject to mandatory security checks and those who fail to respond to the questionnaire could see their claims withdrawn.