An asylum seeker or asylum-seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14.Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 14 A person keeps the status of asylum seeker until the right of asylum application has concluded.
The relevant immigration authorities of the country of asylum determine whether the asylum seeker will be granted the right of asylum protection or whether asylum will be refused and the asylum seeker becomes an illegal immigrant who may be asked to leave the country and may even be deported in line with non-refoulement. Signatories to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights create their own policies for assessing the protection status of asylum seekers, and the proportion of asylum applicants who are accepted or rejected varies each year from country to country.
The asylum seeker may be simultaneously recognized as a refugee and given refugee status if their circumstances fall into the definition of refugee according to the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or regionally applicable refugee laws—such as the European Convention on Human Rights, if within the European Union.
The terms asylum seeker, refugee and illegal immigrant are often confused. In North American English, the term asylee is used both for an asylum seeker, as defined above, and a person whose right of asylum has been granted.
Asylum and protection
The right of asylum according to the Article 14 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Asylum seekers who have committed crimes against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity, or other non-political crimes, or whose actions are contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations, are excluded from international protection.Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration, 2014, page 83. This asylum right is also included in 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of RefugeesConvention Relating to the Status of Refugees, UN, 1951. and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. As of 1 July 2013, there were 145 parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and 146 to the 1967 Protocol. These states are bound by an obligation under international law to grant asylum to people who fall within the definition of Convention and Protocol.María-Teresa Gil-Bazo, 2006: Refugee status, subsidiary protection, and the right to be granted asylum under EC law; Research Paper No. 136, page 7. Persons who do not fall within this definition may still be granted refugee according to the refugee definitions of 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and persons who fall within this definition are called Convention refugees and their status is called Convention refugee status. Complementary forms of protection exist depending on country if the person falls within other refugee definitions.
The practical determination of whether a person obtains the right of asylum or not is most often left to certain government agencies within the host country. In some countries the refugee status determination (RSD) is done by the UNHCR. The burden of substantiating an asylum claim lies with the claimant, who must establish that they qualify for protection.
In many countries, country-of-origin information is used by migration officials as part of the assessment of asylum claims, and governments commission research into the accuracy of their country reports. Some countries have studied the rejection rates of their migration officials making decisions, finding that individuals reject more applicants than others assessing similar cases—and migration officials are required to standardise the reasons for accepting or rejecting claims, so that the decision of one adjudicator is consistent with what their colleagues decide. Nevertheless, researchers from a wide range of disciplines have continuously identified issues with how officials determine if they believe what a person claiming asylum tell about their past experiences, their identity, and relationships. This process - often referred to as the credibility assessment - has been found to be influenced by stereotypes, misconceptions about human memory and -behaviour, as well as institutional features.
Subsidiary protection status Subsidiary protection is an international protection for persons seeking asylum who do not qualify as refugees. It is an option to get asylum for those who do not have a well-founded fear of persecution (which is required for refugee status according to the 1951 Convention), but do indeed have a substantial risk to be subjected to torture or to a serious harm if they are returned to their country of origin, for reasons that include war, violence, conflict and massive violations of human rights.María-Teresa Gil-Bazo, 2006: Refugee status, subsidiary protection, and the right to be granted asylum under EC law; Research Paper No. 136, page 10. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and European Union law have a broader definition of who is entitled to asylum.
Temporary protection visa Temporary protection visas are used to persons in Australia who applied for refugee status after making an unauthorised arrival. It is the main type of visa issued to refugees when released from Australian immigration detention facilities and they are required to reapply for it every three years.
Statistics of asylum decisions In the past 2 decades the number people applying for asylum every year varied between 0.6 and 2.8 million. Outcomes of asylum applications 2000-2023 according to UNHCR:Refugee Data Finder, Dataset Asylum decisions, Population types Asylum-seeker, UNHCR.
Year Total Asylum Granted Other Protection Rejected Otherwise closed 2023 2,498,303 612,908 210,910 581,725 1,092,760 2022 2,057,838 535,551 181,210 584,481 756,596 2021 1,422,047 381,074 114,406 528,552 398,015 2020 1,381,088 350,791 108,794 542,999 379,044 2019 1,730,880 446,842 123,555 664,540 494,663 2018 1,647,261 351,123 148,849 633,046 514,242 2017 2,006,176 483,885 248,316 753,286 520,689 2016 2,844,805 564,859 335,016 604,795 1,340,135 2015 1,647,628 443,658 237,475 500,805 465,690 2014 1,393,642 277,959 336,783 429,690 349,210 2013 880,516 213,642 72,597 375,408 218,869 2012 913,275 210,828 50,902 436,913 204,849 2011 768,675 172,467 43,714 359,759 192,043 2010 730,596 174,983 47,676 355,271 152,667 2009 762,119 229,008 50,615 321,589 161,411 2008 706,269 156,297 63,889 325,688 154,869 2007 644,001 149,460 60,051 260,306 174,206 2006 692,537 141,358 50,711 306,655 193,757 2005 829,228 153,057 51,197 361,864 263,110 2004 891,175 128,182 51,212 445,057 266,665 2003 1,002,084 146,358 49,099 522,096 285,406 2002 1,010,251 161,926 62,105 524,552 261,728 2001 946,486 169,283 79,652 452,180 245,155 2000 1,090,296 203,350 93,392 543,111 249,475
The percentage of women among asylum seekers to Europe from 2008 to 2018 was 31%, which could be explained by factors including gender inequality in origin country and economic incentives.
Status determination processes
Group determination Asylum seekers may be given refugee status on a group basis. Refugees who went through the group status determination are also referred to as prima facie refugees. This is done in situations when the reasons for seeking refugee status are generally well known and individual assessment would otherwise overwhelm the capacities of assessors. Group determination is more readily done in states that not only have accepted the refugee definition of the 1951 Convention, but also use a refugee definition that includes people fleeing indiscriminate or generalized violence, which are not covered in the 1951 Convention.
Individual assessment For persons who do not come into the country as part of a bigger group, individual asylum interviews are conducted to establish whether the person has sufficient reasons for seeking asylum. Meanwhile, high numbers of asylum seekers necessitate governments to provide machine learning systems to assist both asylum seekers and immigration officers in performing fair and just assessments.
Appeals In many countries, asylum applicants can challenge a rejection by challenging the decision in a court or migration review panel. In the United Kingdom, more than one in four decisions to refuse an asylum seeker protection are overturned by immigration judges.Shaw, Jan "Will the UK Continue to Have One in Four Refused Asylum Cases Overturned on Appeal?", The Huffington Post, 18 April 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
Rights of asylum seekers
Whilst waiting for a decision asylum seekers have limited rights in the country of asylum. In most countries they are not allowed to work and in some countries not even to volunteer. In some countries they are not allowed to move freely within the country. Even access to health care is limited. In the European Union, those who have yet to be granted official status as refugees and are still within the asylum process have some restricted rights to healthcare access. This includes access to medical and psychological care. However, these may vary depending on the host country. For instance, under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act (Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz) in Germany, asylum seekers are outside primary care and are limited to emergency health care, vaccinations, pregnancy and childbirth with limitations on specialty care. Asylum seekers have greater chance of experiencing unmet health needs as compared to the general German population. Asylum seekers also have greater odds of hospital admissions and at least one visit to a psychotherapist relative to the German general population.
Concerns in asylum-seeking processes
Research suggests cross-sector collaboration is key to assist refugees and asylum seekers resettle and integrate into receiving communities, workplaces and schools.
Non-governmental organizations concerned with refugees and asylum seekers have pointed out difficulties for displaced persons to seek asylum in industrialized countries. As the immigration policy in many countries often focuses on the fight of illegal immigration and the strengthening of border controls, it deters displaced persons from entering territory in which they could lodge an asylum claim. The lack of opportunities to legally access the asylum procedures can force displaced persons to undertake often expensive and hazardous attempts at illegal entry.
In recent years, the public as well as policy makers of many countries are focusing more and more on refugees arriving through third country resettlement and pay less and less attention to asylum seekers and those who have already been granted refugee status but did not come through resettlement. Asylum seekers have even been referred to as 'queue jumpers', because they did not wait for their chance to be resettled.Resettlement: where's the evidence, what's the strategy?, Alexander Betts, Forced Migration Review 54, January 2017, page 73.
Legal interpreters are assigned to assist asylum seekers throughout interviews and court proceedings. These legal interpreters reflect the training they received in the training program they were certified in. The accuracy of the legal interpretation may vary depending on the training received from the interpreter and potential biases they carry coming into the interpreting session. Lack of training in asylum settings may influence interpretation sessions.
Quality of life of asylum seekers and refugees is highly correlated with the mental health status. The presence of mental disorders like depression or PTSD is mainly due to the forced migration and the resettlement in host countries.
Destitution