The purpose of the pre-interview counseling is to establish a rapport with individuals, put them at ease, provide necessary information and encourage their trust and full participation in the registration process. The interviewer should have no prior relationship with the individual, and should be trained and qualified on UNHCR’s mandate, the principle of impartiality and the duty of confidentiality. Refugee interpreters should only be used as a last resort, and asylum seekers should not be hired as interpreters.

The interviewer should start the interview by:

In situations where comprehensive individual counselling cannot be conducted (e.g. mass registration, emergencies), group counselling may be conducted to explain the purpose and process of the registration. However, counseling on consent and other issues affecting individual rights and obligations must always be conducted individually.

Pre-interview counseling should cover the following areas:

4 If appropriate, recall that while registration is a prerequisite to recognition of refugee status and assistance in obtaining a durable solution, it does not necessarily lead to either of these outcomes.

• Explain that a similar set of questions will be asked of each person in the Registration Group, and that, if interviewed together, individuals should refrain from answering on behalf of others, including children, unless specifically asked to do so;
• Describe the biometric enrolment process and it purposes and explain that it will take place with the consent of individuals;
• Explain what documentation will be issued at the end of registration, its expiry date and the need – and procedures in place – to renew it;
• Explain how individuals can update, modify, change and access their personal data recorded with UNHCR;
• Remind individuals that registration and all other services and assistance offered by UNHCR and partners are free of charge.

• Individuals should be reminded that participation in registration is voluntary;
• Individuals should be advised about their obligation to cooperate and give truthful and complete responses to the questions asked;
• Individuals have the right to request an interviewer (and interpreter) of a particular sex;
• Individuals have the right to be interviewed in a language they understand;
• Individuals have the right to request a separate interview from other members of his/her family or Registration Group;
• Individuals have the right to provide or withhold consent for UNHCR to share their personal data with implementing or operational partners and should be advised about any implications of withholding consent in the specific operational context.

• The interviewer (and interpreter) is/are bound by a code of conduct and a duty of confidentiality. No personal information shared by the interviewee during the interview may be communicated or shared without the consent of the concerned individual;
• The interviewer (and interpreter) must ask questions in a respectful and non-threatening manner, be sensitive to specific needs and speak in a way that is clear and understandable to the person interviewed including, for example, children, persons who may be traumatized or persons with intellectual disabilities;
• The interviewer should propose separate interviews with family members if it is appropriate under the circumstances (the interviewer believes there may be protection or other issues to discuss that require confidentiality). Where there is a chance that separate interviews could create additional protection risks for the individual concerned, the interviewer should consult protection colleagues on how to proceed.

• Consent should be informed and freely given. Informed means that the individual is provided information and able to understand the circumstances, purpose, risks and benefits of sharing personal information. Information should cover all of the envisaged data processing activities⁵ to be carried out, in particular which data elements will be shared with host government, implementing partners or other third parties. Freely given means that the individual has a genuine choice and is able to refuse or withdraw without adverse consequences. See paragraph 3.2. of the Operational Guidelines on Data Protection for a discussion on consent as a legitimate basis of data processing. The interviewer should explain that:
  • The host government has a legitimate interest in knowing who is on its territory, and that basic bio-data registered in proGres may be routinely shared by UNHCR with government partners (as applicable depending on the operation);
  • UNHCR will never share personal data with authorities in the country of origin without the consent of the individuals concerned;
  • Individuals are invited to provide consent for UNHCR to share basic personal data with partners and other humanitarian organisations, including other UN agencies, non-governmental organisations and commercial service providers (as applicable) for the purposes of providing access to protection, assistance and services.
• Factors such as age, level of education, mental health or disability may affect an individual’s ability to understand the implications of data processing. UNHCR staff should adapt their counselling to ensure that all persons of concern are able to understand and exercise their rights to the fullest possible extent. Refer to paragraph 3.8 of the Operational Guidelines on Data Protection for further guidance on Seeking consent from individuals with mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities.

• In the case of children, consent should be, in most cases, obtained from the child’s accompanying parent, family member with parental responsibility, or legal or customary caregiver. Refer to paragraph 3.7 of the Operational Guidelines on Data Protection for further guidance on seeking assent/consent in the case of children.

It is important not to rush through the introduction, despite the fact that staff may do it many times in one day. Individuals should be given ample opportunity to ask questions and voice concerns before moving to the data collection stage of the registration interview.

5 All processing of individual data needs to be compatible with the initial purpose for which consent was obtained. New purposes require a new legitimate basis, normally consent. Refer to section 3 generally of the Operational Guidance on Data Protection for a discussion on the types of additional purposes for data processing (e.g. assistance, for statistics, advocacy, resettlement, etc.) that should be reasonably expected by individuals, those which require additional consent by the individuals concerned and those which may be carried out using a legitimate basis other than consent.

A Registration Group refers to a family (nuclear or extended) who lives together and identifies as a family and for whom a relationship of either social, emotional or economic dependency is presumed.  An individual must always belong to a Registration Group.

Each Registration Group must assign an individual as its focal point. She or he does not have any specific tasks or decision-making responsibilities for the group, nor any different rights or entitlements. Rather, the focal point simply gives structure to the Registration Group, providing an anchor from which to define all the other social and biological relationships in the group.

The interviewer should gain a clear understanding of the relationships between Registration Group members before recording them in proGres. This may be straightforward in many cases, however, it is important to keep in mind that certain communities and cultures may have differing notions of how families are constituted and re-constituted, and how the relationship between certain family members are referred to (e.g. “brothers” may in fact be biological cousins, “father” may in fact be father-law, etc.). Depending on the social and cultural context of the concerned individuals, questions may need to be asked in a particular way to ensure accurate relationship data is provided.

The below is a graphical representation of family relationships as they are found in proGres. In the centre (green) is the Focal Point, and his/her relatives are also presented in green to show the family relationship. The Focal Point’s spouse is in blue, and his/her relatives that have a connection (through marriage) to the Focal Point are presented in blue. Second degree relationships and other relevant blood or non-blood relations are presented in white. Children of the Focal Point and his/her current spouse are represented in pink and grandchildren in grey.

It is particularly important to gain a clear understanding of how children are related to adults in the Registration Group. There are several ‘blood’ and ‘non-blood’ relationship values to choose from in proGres, reflecting a range of parental and other caregiving relations. Since registration may be the only opportunity to identify child-related protection risks, SOPs should provide comprehensive instructions on how any of the 17 child-relevant specific needs codes may apply in light of certain child-adult relations recorded. Depending on the social and cultural context, child relations should be inquired about with due sensitivity and discretion. Child protection colleagues can help formulate questions to ensure accurate relationship data is shared, and advise which relations or situations warrant referral for further assessment.

It can happen that members of a Registration Group attempt to substitute an unrelated person or child for an absent family member, in order to ensure that family member is included and accounted for later. It is important to counsel individuals against this practice, explaining that individuals cannot be substituted and can simply approach UNHCR at a later date to be duly registered with their family members.

In the case of polygamy, the husband should be registered by himself, and each spouse should be the Focal Point of a Registration Group comprising herself and her children. This is particularly important in an assistance context, since assistance is provided according to the Registration Group. All Registration Groups are then cross-linked.

UNHCR’s working definition of identity is the “unique set of features and characteristics that individualise a person including name and other biographical data”.  In the context of registration, there are two key aspects of a person’s identity:

• The element of uniqueness: the fact that one individual is distinguished from all others by their unique set of features and characteristics; and
• The element of continuity: there must be continuity of identity information over the course of a person’s life. Since most of the constitutive elements making up an individual’s identity can legitimately change over time (e.g. name, civil status , nationality), it is important for UNHCR to recognize and be responsive to these changes, including updating proGres records and issuing updated documentation as required. At the same time, the continued unique identification of the given individual despite these changes must be ensured through biometric identification and continuous registration.

Depending on the context, individuals may submit formal documentation proving their identity, for example, a passport, national identity card or birth certificate issued in the country of origin. If this is the case, attention may additionally be paid to these documents in respect of relationships between family members, place of origin, military service, nationality and entry status, as relevant.

In the absence of formal identity documentation, any other available personal documents should be reviewed. Relevant documentation in this regard may include a civil registry extract for the individual or family, family booklet, birth notification, travel documents, identity or entitlement documents issued in the country of asylum, other documents that support the existence of dependency relationships. In addition, other documents demonstrating an active presence in a community, including a digital community, may be relevant in the context of building up evidence of identity over time through continuous registration activities. This could include membership cards, written or online publications, school reports, employment contracts, documents attesting to participation in cultural, social, athletic or religious activities, social media accounts, blogs and other recorded activity. Where physical files are created in the operation, registration staff should take copies of all formal and informal documentation presented.

Registration staff are required to undertake a reasonable effort to ascertain identity before creating a proGres record. The threshold for doing so will be context-specific. For example, for certain countries, process of assessing identity documents may be a relatively straightforward exercise, whether on account of the high prevalence of documented individuals, and thus the greater familiarity with such documents on the part of Registration staff, or because the related documentation contains security features facilitating a rapid authenticity screening. In other contexts, the large majority of asylum-seekers and refugees may not present any kind of documentation⁶ or may present documentation with incorrectly recorded biographical information. In order to promote greater consistency and in view of the very wide range of operational contexts in this regard, the following approach is recommended:

6 Documentation proving identity may become lost or destroyed during displacement, or may never have been issued by State authorities in the country of origin. The latter could be due to (1) reasons linked to the persecution experienced by that individual or circumstances of flight, (2) omission by the individual, (3) lack of State capacity to issue identity documentation to citizens residing in remote areas, or (4) because the individual is stateless, for example.

The following procedure should be followed when soliciting individual documentation:

• Review and photocopy/scan all documents presented. Return original documents;
• Verify that the person matches any photographs in the documents presented, and that names and other core bio-data correspond (refer to (a) above if this is not the case);
• Record in proGres the necessary information about each document (type, serial number, date of issue), and whether copies or originals were presented.

The registration interview constitutes, in many cases, a unique chance to obtain the biographical and specific needs data necessary to inform protection interventions and eligibility for assistance and further case management. Identity information recorded during registration should be accurate and complete. Often, this will simply mean entering in proGres information as presented by the individual. However, some registration interviews may be more complex where, for example, statements are inconsistent between family members, go against information provided in supporting documentation or otherwise cannot be considered factually correct. SOPs should set out which inconsistencies justify referral to an escalation desk for further examination.

While some data fields in proGres are mandatory to be able to save a Registration record, the dataset to be collected at registration should be determined at the country level, based on data requirements in the operational context.  All data fields to be completed should be set out in a data entry table included in or annexed to the SOP. The data entry table should contain, in the same order as the Registration Forms in proGres:

Since all individuals must belong to a Registration Group, it is necessary to first create a Registration Group in proGres through the Registration Group Form in order to be able to access the Individual Registration Form and complete an individual registration. Once group level information is entered and saved, additional individuals can then be added to the Registration Group.

• Any existing information previously gathered (e.g. through Group Pre-Registration) should be verified and used in the Registration Form. When using RApp, Reception data is automatically retrieved by the system to pre-populate the data fields.
• The ‘pre-identification’ step at enrolment will identify whether an individual has previously been registered;
• Registration staff should ensure biographical data recorded corresponds⁸ to official documentation, and make necessary adjustments (spelling, other errors) under commonly used name, protection events or another appropriate place.
• In the absence of official documentation, registration staff should record data as declared by the individual, using standardized spelling where possible.
• In the rare event that several of the biodata elements declared do not correspond to official documentation (e.g. name, sex and DOB or place of origin), Registration staff should refer the individual to Protection colleagues for further assessment. This may require a specific approach in some LGBTI cases, or could be an integrity issue.
• Fighters or members of the host population identified during the course of the registration interview should be screened out of the process according to procedures set out in the SOP.⁹
• Refer to ‘interviewing tips’

8 An exception to this rule may be where an individual (e.g. transgender) expresses a wish to be registered and have documents issued in accordance with the sex with which they identify (not that which they were born with), and denying this would have serious negative psychological affects and/or protection-related risks. Such cases should be escalated to a Supervisor as well as referred to protection counseling about the associated risks.

9 which may include escalation to a supervisor or referral to protection colleagues as well as relevant counseling for the individual.

Identifying specific needs is an essential part of the registration interview.

The Specific Needs Codes (SNC) are a set of codes that refer to a standardized list of particular characteristics, circumstances, or risks that may provoke protection exigencies in a given individual. The SNCs should be the sole mechanism for recording specific needs of individuals into proGres. Specific needs codes are divided into categories and sub-categories. The sub-categories update automatically when a category is selected. Multiple specific needs codes may be used for a given individual.

The Registration and Identity Management Officer, in consultation with Protection staff, may define the specific needs codes to be used in a particular operation at initial and at continuous registration and should ensure the necessary training of Registration staff as to how to identify and duly record such needs. In addition, each operation must define the level of access to the specific needs entities based on areas of interventions and responsibilities of the users involved in case management activities.

Specific needs clearly identified at registration should be recorded as “valid”, unless an operation has sufficient resources for Protection staff to conduct systematic validation of all specific needs. Specific needs should be recorded as “pending review” where (a) there is uncertainty as to their applicability, character or severity, (b) a need is observed but not expressed by the individual, (c) they relate to those categories of SPNs that always require assessment by subject matter experts as per SOPs. Specific needs cases pending review must be referred for further assessment by Protection colleagues, who should subsequently verify and confirm the SPN as “valid”, if appropriate. This allows the flagging of specific needs that are reported or noticed but for which registration staff do not have the time or the expertise to make an assessment. It is nevertheless essential that these are flagged at registration or the information may be lost and may not reach the appropriate staff or partner for follow-up and intervention.

Specific needs may evolve over time, and the corresponding codes must be updated in proGres in a timely way by the staff who identifies the change, or by other staff as provided in the SOPs.

In the specific case of LGBTI refugees, no specific need code is required unless an individual faces protection risks in the country of asylum on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity, in which case the SNC ‘at risk because of profile’ (LP-MS) may be relevant.

Women, men, girls, and boys with disabilities have diverse needs and capacities, which need to be understood to inform programming, facilitate the identification and removal of barriers, and promote equal access and inclusion.¹⁰ Registration staff are encouraged to refer to the Washington Group (WG) questions to identify disability-related specific needs within the population. The WG questions move away from a medical or ‘diagnostic’ approach to disability,¹¹ and focus on determining the extent to which certain individuals may require assistance to enjoy equal access to services, opportunities and rights in light of the social, environmental, communication or other barriers they face. As such, at initial registration, Offices are recommended to ask the following question: Does anyone in your family have difficulties with self-care, such as washing and dressing?¹² Rather than identifying impairment type, this question is intended to identify persons with high support needs, to be referred for priority assistance.

The answer options for this question should be multi-choice:

10 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity, March 2018, available at: 

11 The number of individuals within a population reporting specific needs associated with disability may rise when using the WG questions, which are neutral and do not refer to the existence of a specific medical condition. Increased protection response capacity may therefore be an issue to consider in some contexts.

12 Features in the short and the extended set of WG questions.

Answers (C) and (D) should be considered as a disability and the following action taken:

During continuous registration, Offices are encouraged to refer to all six questions in the Washington Group short set, which broadly correspond to the existing specific needs disability sub-categories found in proGres.

Before closing the interview, the interviewer should read the recorded information back to the concerned individual to confirm the information is correct. Allow sufficient time for the correction of misspellings or revisiting incomplete answers. If hard copies of registration forms are maintained, the individual should sign with signature or thumbprint, with parents (or guardians) signing on behalf of their minor children.

Individuals are informed during pre-interview counseling about the specific purpose for which information is being collected by UNHCR and that their core biographical data may be shared with the host government. Individuals should be provided another opportunity to ask questions, in particular where registration data may be co-controlled by host country authorities, including biometric data (e.g. joint Government and UNHCR procedures). If relevant in the operation, individuals are also asked whether they consent to the sharing of their bio-data and assessed vulnerabilities with third parties for the purposes of providing access to protection, assistance and services. Consent data is entered in the General Consent (information sharing) entity in proGres.

The interviewer should counsel the individual on the next steps in the registration process, including biometric enrolment as well as the document(s) to be provided at the end of the process and the associated rights or access to services. Importantly, individuals should be counseled on the system of continuous registration: the date of expiry of documents issued, procedures for document renewal, the need to register new births and alert UNHCR to other changes to family composition. The registration staff should also inform individuals on procedures to update contact information (house address, email address and phone number).

Biometric enrolment and photographs anchor a registration record to a physical individual. When an individual’s record has been saved in proGres, biometric enrolment in BIMS may be initiated from the proGres record. This step is carried out by Registration staff, and clear instructions must be provided to support staff in completing all the elements of this stage, which may vary slightly between operations, depending on the processing methodology in place. SOPs should guide staff in:

IrisGuard is a biometric tool used in five countries the Middle East region. It collects two iris scans and a facial photo from each individual, and is integrated with proGres.

Adult biometric data, once enrolled, does not need to be updated unless it becomes difficult to match against, is scarred, damaged, or in any other way changed from the images that were originally recorded. If it is difficult to identify a person because their biometric record is not of optimal quality, consider updating their biometrics after confirming their identity. It is recommended to update the biometric records of children (aged five to 17 years) every two to three years if possible and practicable, to account for growth. Biometric records for children that were captured more than three years previous are still valid for matching against, though may be less effective.

Staff should strive to capture all available biometrics. Occasionally, however, fingerprints or irises may be difficult or impossible to capture. A person’s biometrics can, in general, be recorded in 90 seconds; staff should not spend longer than five minutes on one individual before marking ‘unable to capture’ in BIMS and identifying the reason.

SOPs should outline BIMS and IrisGuard -related activities relevant to continuous registration, including how and when to update biometric records for children and young people, as well as ad hoc procedures for the referral and biometric enrolment of already-registered individuals who approach the Office for RSD, resettlement or other reason and who are not yet biometrically enrolled, and use of biometrics for confirming an individual identity over time (verification).

Photographs are part of all individual registration datasets. They may be taken, with or without biometrics, as the interview stage, or at a subsequent step in the process flow. If BIMS is used in the operation it is recommended to take photographs directly in BIMS.  In all cases, there should be adequate lighting for taking good quality photos, privately if possible, with enough space so that no other people or objects appear in the frame of the photo.  Two side lighting crossing over each other at an angle is recommended to eliminate shadows and highlight facial details. Overhead lighting improves photo quality (e.g. two to four fluorescent tubes).

Staff are encouraged to refer to global specifications¹⁴ for passport photos to help guide the taking of good quality photos at registration. The most relevant considerations are:

14 From the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). To see good/bad photos according to ICAO standards