The United Kingdom will use artificial intelligence to determine the age of asylum seekers. The Netherlands also uses and researches AI techniques in migration policy. ‘It must also be beneficial for the people concerned.’
In 2026, the United Kingdom will use artificial intelligence to estimate the ages of asylum seekers. The technique will be applied to asylum seekers who claim to be minors, but where there is doubt as to whether this is actually the case. Specifically, it will involve assessing the facial features of asylum seekers, such as the eyes, nose, mouth and cheekbones, using AI.
Former British Minister for Border Security and Asylum Angela Eagle wrote to the British Parliament in July 2025: ‘Facial age estimation is probably the most cost-effective option, whereby AI technology - trained on millions of images in which a person's age is verifiable - is able to make an age estimate with a known degree of accuracy for a person whose age is unknown or disputed.’
Age testing for underage asylum seekers has been under pressure in the United Kingdom for some time. This is due to a number of critical reports. For example, David Bolt, the British Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, published a critical report on the ‘arbitrary manner’ in which officials estimate the ages of asylum seekers.
The report states that the mental health of young asylum seekers suffers due to shortcomings in the current method of age verification. This is particularly problematic in Dover, the British coastal town where asylum seekers arrive in small boats. They make the crossing to the United Kingdom from France via the English Channel.
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