The British government will introduce artificial intelligence-based facial recognition technology to assess the age of asylum seekers next year as part of a wider effort to tighten border controls and prevent abuse of immigration rules.
The new system, developed under the Home Office, analyzes images of asylum seekers’ faces to estimate their estimated age and identify individuals who are falsely pretending to be minors, in order to access additional welfare protection and improve their chances of receiving asylum.
British officials said the technology would be introduced in phases at border points and asylum processing centres, with widespread rollout across the country by 2027.
Alex Norris said individuals who make false claims about their age undermine protections meant for genuine children and put further pressure on the UK’s asylum and social care systems.
The issue of age claims has become increasingly controversial in Europe, particularly in cases involving illegal asylum seekers from Afghanistan and other conflict-affected countries, where official identification documents are often unavailable or lost during evacuation.
More than 111,000 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, according to government figures, an increase of 14% on the previous year. After the Taliban returned to power, Afghan nationals accounted for a significant proportion of these applications.
An independent immigration judge has previously warned that the UK’s existing age-assessment procedures made serious errors, resulting in some adults being incorrectly treated as children and some minors being classified as adults.
To address these concerns, the UK government has awarded contracts worth more than £322,000 to technology companies to develop AI-based biometric tools aimed at improving the accuracy and speed of age assessments.
Meanwhile, human rights and refugee advocacy groups have raised concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in immigration decisions, warning that inaccurate assessments could put vulnerable children at risk and lead to unfair detention and deportation.
Britain has expanded its use of biometric systems, facial recognition and digital surveillance technology at airports and border facilities in recent years as part of a broader effort to reduce illegal immigration and tighten immigration controls.
