Do you know how to cook a turkey for Christmas? Who are the twelve sons of Jacob? How to observe Lent? These were the kind of questions asked to test refugees who applied for asylum because they converted to Christianity. But things have changed! 

The European Union’s Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has published a practical guide for immigration officials. This guide gives tips for interviewing applicants with religion-based asylum claims. For those working with converts, many of these tips will make perfect sense and, after years of working with the authorities, it’s great to see these suggestions now formally included in this practical guide. Although the guide is not legally binding, it can be of great value to all with refugee friends and especially to those supporting converts in their asylum application. 

If you feel that the immigration official asked the wrong questions, that the interpreter did not know how to translate Christian terminology, or that the official did not do justice to the convert’s testimony, you can use the EUAA practical guide to challenge and improve the procedures. You’ll find the guide here: https://euaa.europa.eu/publications/practical-guide-interviewing-applicants-religion-based-asylum-claims 

As EEA, we have been working on this issue for years, together with our network of experts working in this field. We are really grateful that this work has not been in vain but has been recognised by European authorities. We pray that this practical guide will continue to have a positive impact on our brothers and sisters who apply for protection because of their conversion. 

If you want to know more, please, don’t hesitate to contact us: . We’d be more than happy to help or to connect you to others who might have relevant expertise. 

Photo credits: Phil Botha on Unsplash