Latest asylum case law

Austria

The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal of a Syrian national of Kurdish ethnicity, ruling that refugee status could not be granted because the overthrow of the Assad regime and the abolition of compulsory military service removed the risk of draft-related or politically imputed persecution, and finding that granting subsidiary protection complied with the Supreme Administrative Court’s requirement to consider EUAA guidelines and UNHCR’s position on returns to Syria, thereby rejecting refugee protection while maintaining subsidiary protection.

14/07/2025

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AT: Federal Administrative Court [Bundesverwaltungsgericht - BVwG]

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Decision

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I419 2284112-1

A Syrian national, member of the Kurdish ethnic group, requested international protection in Austria on 3 October 2022, after entering irregularly via Greece and Hungary. He alleged a risk of persecution by the Syrian State, on political grounds, linked to his evasion of military service since 2011–2012, his participation in anti-Assad demonstrations in 2012, and his previous asylum...

Austria

The Federal Administrative Court granted refugee status to a Cameroonian national from the Anglophone South-West region, holding that he had credibly demonstrated past persecution by both separatists and state authorities on account of imputed political opinion, that acts such as abduction, arbitrary detention, torture, and the rape of his fiancée amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment under the ECHR and constituted persecution under the recast Qualification Directive, and that an arrest warrant and absence of an internal flight alternative substantiated a well-founded fear of future persecution.

14/07/2025

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AT: Federal Administrative Court [Bundesverwaltungsgericht - BVwG]

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Decision

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I425 2313192-1

A Cameroonian national, member of the Bakossi ethnic group and of Christian faith, requested international protection in Austria on 26 October 2023, claiming that he had been subject to acts of persecution by both separatists and government forces on multiple occasions due to his perceived political stance and professional profile. The applicant came from the Anglophone South-West region in...

Spain

The National High Court dismissed the appeal of a Venezuelan applicant diagnosed with HIV upholding the Ministry of the Interior’s refusal to grant asylum, subsidiary protection, or residence on humanitarian grounds. The court held that the applicant had failed to demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution under the Refugee Convention or a real risk of serious harm. It further concluded that humanitarian protection was unwarranted given his prior residence in a safe third country (Chile) and the lack of specific proof evidencing the unavailability of HIV treatment in Venezuela.

25/06/2025

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ES: National High Court [Audiencia Nacional]

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Judgment

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SAN 2850/2025

B., a Venezuelan national diagnosed with HIV in 2017, arrived in Spain in 2019, where he applied for international protection on 26 February 2022, citing his health condition and the lack of access to treatment in Venezuela. He had previously lived in Chile before relocating to Spain where, in 2020, he began receiving medical treatment.

On 21 October...

Spain

The National High Court annulled the Ministry of the Interior’s decision declaring an asylum application implicitly withdrawn due to the applicant’s lack of response, holding that he had not been properly notified, as no edictal notification was issued after two failed personal delivery attempts.

25/06/2025

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ES: National High Court [Audiencia Nacional]

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Judgment

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SAN 2835/2025

A., a Venezuelan national, applied for international protection in Spain on 2 March 2022. By decision of 10 November 2022, the Ministry of the Interior (the Ministry) declared the international protection procedure implicitly withdrawn due to the applicant’s failure to respond to a request for documentation, including a passport copy and supporting evidence for his asylum...

Spain

The Supreme Court ordered the State Administration to comply with previously issued interim measures and to guarantee access to the national asylum reception system for unaccompanied minors under the custody of the Canary Islands region holding that the minors were entitled to full reception rights under EU and Spanish law; the court instructed the State to urgently deploy resources, ensure inter-administrative coordination with the regional government, and report biweekly on implementation under threat of coercive measures.

04/06/2025

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ES: Supreme Court [Tribunal Supremo]

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Interim Measures

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ATS 5274/2025

Following the arrival in the Canary Islands of large numbers of unaccompanied children who had requested or had the intention to request international protection in Spain, the applicant -the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands- requested the Spanish State Administration access for these minors to the national asylum reception system. On 25 March 2025, the Supreme Court issued an

Slovakia

The Administrative Court in Bratislava annulled the Ministry of the Interior’s decision refusing asylum to a Russian national, holding that the authority had failed to properly assess the applicant’s credibility, his past political activities linked to Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), and the implications of an ECtHR judgment in his favour, while also disregarding country-of-origin information documenting systematic repression of Navalny supporters and the designation of FBK as an extremist organisation.

15/04/2025

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SK: Administrative Court in Bratislava [Správny súd v Bratislave]

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Judgment

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15Saz/1/2025

A.B., a Russian national, applied for international protection in Slovakia on 22 August 2024 after arriving on 13 October 2023 on a Schengen visa issued by the Republic of Hungary. He claimed fear of persecution due to his political activism and affiliation with opposition movements, particularly the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), which was associated with Alexei Navalny and was considered...

Austria

The Supreme Administrative Court annulled the decision of the Federal Administrative Court rejecting international protection for a woman from Benin, holding that the lower court failed to assess the applicant’s minority status at the time of the alleged events, her alleged mental illness and relevant country of origin information, and therefore committed a procedural violation.

25/07/2025

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AT: Supreme Administrative Court [Verwaltungsgerichtshof - VwGH]

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Judgment

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Ra 2024/14/0866

A woman from Benin requested international protection in Austria on 31 January 2023, citing fear of her husband, to whom she had been forcibly married and who had raped her. On 28 March 2024, the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA) rejected granting refugee status but granted subsidiary protection status and a temporary residence permit. The applicant appealed to the Federal...

Switzerland

The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal of an applicant seeking derived refugee status from her spouse’s refugee status, holding that her persistent failure to provide credible documentation on identity and origin, despite multiple opportunities, constituted a serious breach of the duty to cooperate and a “special circumstance” justifying exclusion from derived refugee protection under Article 51(1) of the Asylum Act.

15/04/2025

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CH: Federal Administrative Court [Bundesverwaltungsgericht - Tribunal administratif fédéral - FAC]

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Judgment

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E-423/2021

The applicant, a woman who claimed to be a Chinese national of Tibetan origin, applied for international protection in Switzerland on 12 July 2018. Her husband had previously been granted refugee status and later received a permanent residency permit. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) conducted a LINGUA origin analysis, which concluded that the applicant was unlikely to have been...

Spain

The National High Court dismissed refugee status and subsidiary protection claims of a Colombian woman and her son, ruling that Colombia’s legal framework and police action demonstrated the availability of state protection against gender-based violence and it found that the applicant’s failure to pursue remedies after 2009 undermined her credibility.

27/06/2025

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ES: National High Court [Audiencia Nacional]

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Judgment

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SAN 3035/2025

C. and her son D., both Colombian nationals, arrived in Spain on 6 October 2019 and applied for international protection on 7 September 2020. At that time D., the applicant’s son, was a minor. Their claims were denied by the Ministry of the Interior on 24 January 2022. On 6 July 2022, they appealed to the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional), seeking recognition of international...

Spain

The Supreme Court established as legal doctrine that internal reports issued by the case workers of the Asylum Office qualify as electronic administrative documents under Articles 26 and 80 of the Administrative Procedure Law and must therefore include digital signatures, metadata, and author identification; however, the lack of formal compliance with these requirements in the present case did not cause material harm or procedural indefensibility to the applicants.

14/05/2025

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ES: Supreme Court [Tribunal Supremo]

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Judgment

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STS 2018/2025

Two Salvadoran nationals, R. and R., applied for international protection in Spain. Their applications were rejected by the Ministry of the Interior on 20 February 2021. Following their appeal, the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) confirmed the rejections on 11 April 2023. The applicants appealed in cassation to the Supreme Court, alleging procedural flaws in the handling of their...