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General FAQs
Who
is a refugee?
Who
is an asylum seeker?
Where
do asylum seekers in Britain come from?
Does
Britain have more asylum seekers than most countries?
Who
is a refugee?
A refugee is a person who 'owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership
of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the
country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear,
is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country…'
Article 1, 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
Who
is an asylum seeker?
An asylum seeker is someone who has applied for asylum and is waiting
for a decision as to whether or not they are a refugee. In other
words, in the UK an asylum seeker is someone who has asked the Government
for refugee status and is waiting to hear the outcome of their application.
Where
do asylum seekers in Britain come from?
At present, a large number of asylum applications come from Afghan, Iranian, Chinese, Iraqi and Eritrean citizens.
Does
Britain have more asylum seekers than most countries?
The United States was the main country of destination for asylum seekers of all nationalities in 2007, with an estimated 49,200 new asylum claims. Sweden, which saw a 50 percent increase last year in the number of new asylum applications, was second with 36,200 claims, primarily by the arrival of large numbers of Iraqi asylum seekers.
After the United States and Sweden, the main countries of destination for asylum seekers in 2007 were France (29,200), Canada (28,300) and the United Kingdom (27,900). Greece, Germany, Italy, Austria and Belgium were also among the top 10 receiving countries.
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