Asylum in South Africa: two grounds, many tests, no quick papers
An immigration attorney told eNCA that Home Affairs weighs each applicant's claim, credibility and country conditions, not just the application form.
South Africa grants refugee or asylum seeker status on two grounds, and neither is settled by handing in a form.
An immigration attorney, speaking to eNCA in a broadcast published on 7 October 2026, set out what those two grounds are. An applicant must either be fleeing external violence in their country of origin, which covers war and comparable conflict, or be fleeing persecution. Persecution, the attorney said, can arise from a person’s religion, sex, gender or sexual orientation, among other circumstances.
Those are the two bases on which an application can be made. What follows is a wider assessment.
The attorney said Home Affairs considers several further factors when it reviews an application. Officials examine the specific claim of each applicant rather than treating applications as a single category. They assess the credibility of each applicant. They also weigh the actual conditions in the applicant’s country of origin.
That last step does not rest on the applicant’s account alone. The attorney said the department also draws on what the United Nations and other external sources say about conditions in that country. A range of material outside the application therefore feeds into the decision.
The attorney’s summary of the process was blunt. Submitting an application does not mean papers follow automatically.
The broadcast did not set out processing times, approval or rejection rates, or the number of applications currently before the department. It named no applicant and no official. What it offers is a plain account of the legal grounds and the tests that sit behind a status decision, at a time when immigration administration is a live subject of public debate in South Africa.
Source: eNCA (YouTube), Immigration attorney says many factors are considered for asylum or refugee status
