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Who are asylum seekers and refugees?

A woman and daughter.

An asylum seeker is a person who is fleeing persecution in their homeland, has arrived in another country, made themselves known to the authorities and exercised the legal right to apply for asylum in the UK. A refugee is a person who is outside their country of nationality and is unwilling to return to it due to a well-founded fear of persecution.

The UK Government recognises an asylum seeker as a refugee when they satisfy the definition under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees which is that 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…".

Although not formally refugees our refugee policy is also designed to help people who following their asylum claim have been:

  • granted indefinite leave to remain
  • humanitarian protection
  • discretionary leave.

The Refugee Inclusion Strategy has now been finalised and can be found under our publication pages.