Migrant Claimed He Was a Child to Seek Asylum in the UK, But What the Court Discovered Left Everyone Surprised

A Vietnamese migrant who crossed the English Channel in a small boat has been accused of trying to mislead British immigration officials about his age after evidence from his TikTok account appeared to contradict his claims.

When he first arrived in the UK in March last year, he told immigration officers that he was 16 years old. Later, he changed his story and claimed he was actually 15. However, officials became suspicious because his appearance suggested he was much older, and a review of his social media account raised even more questions.

The man, whose identity has not been made public, applied for asylum and challenged the decision made by Derby City Council, which had assessed him as an adult. Immigration officers and social workers who interviewed him both concluded that he had been born in 2002, meaning he was already an adult when he entered Britain.

During the investigation, the Home Office presented a screenshot from his TikTok profile. According to the evidence, the account indicated that he was an adult, which directly conflicted with the age he had given to British authorities.

When asked why he looked much older than the age he claimed, the man said it was because he had suffered a serious throat infection as a child. He argued that the illness had affected his appearance and caused him to develop a noticeable Adam’s apple at a young age.

He also tried to explain the information on his TikTok account. He claimed that neighbours in Vietnam had given him an expensive smartphone so he could create a TikTok profile, despite not meeting the platform’s age requirements. However, the tribunal found this explanation difficult to believe.

The judge pointed out that, under Vietnamese registration rules, creating a TikTok account generally requires access to a local phone number or identification linked to age verification. She said it was unlikely that neighbours would simply provide an expensive phone for that purpose.

The tribunal also noted that the migrant could not give a consistent explanation for why a different birth date appeared on his TikTok profile. Throughout the hearing, his evidence changed several times, which damaged his credibility.

Judge Helen Rimington said she placed significant weight on the professional age assessments carried out by social workers. She also noted that the man had failed to obtain documents that could have supported his claims, including school records that should have been reasonably available to him.

After reviewing all the evidence, the judge ruled that the migrant was an adult when he entered the UK and confirmed his date of birth as September 2, 2002.

As a result, he lost his legal challenge against Derby City Council’s age assessment. The tribunal also ordered him to pay the council’s legal costs for the case.

Although he lost the dispute over his age, his asylum application is still being processed separately and has not yet been decided.