Italy rejects 2,220 Nigerians seeking asylum

At least 3,385 Nigerians applied for asylum in Italy in 2025 as 2,220 applicants were rejected in first-instance decisions.

This is according to figures contained in the Asylum Information Database 2025 Country Report on Italy, a project of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles and compiled using data from Italy’s Asylum Service and the European Union Agency for Asylum.

The report was produced by the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration.

The volume of applications made Nigeria the only sub-Saharan African country among the country’s top 10 nationalities of asylum seekers, according to the data obtained by The PUNCH.

It showed that 660 of the Nigerians who went through the process were granted full refugee status, recording a 19.47 per cent refugee recognition rate, the highest of all top 10 nationalities and nearly three and a half times Italy’s national average of 5.7 per cent.

Of the 3,390 decisions rendered on Nigerian cases in 2025, 660 or 19.47 per cent resulted in full refugee status, Italy’s highest form of protection awarded to persons who face persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group under the 1951 Geneva Convention.

A further 55 Nigerians, or 1.62 per cent, received subsidiary protection, which covers those facing serious harm who do not qualify as Convention refugees, while 460 or 13.57 per cent were granted Italy’s national or special protection category, known as protezione speciale.

According to the data, 1,175 Nigerians received some form of protection in 2025, translating to an overall protection rate of 34.66 per cent, above Italy’s national rate of 30 per cent.

As of December 31, 2025, a further 4,120 Nigerian cases remained pending before Italian authorities, the report said.

Among asylum seekers of African descent, Egypt led with 11,790 applications.

The AIDA statistics table showed that of the 10,685 decisions on Egyptian cases, 8,900, or 83.30 per cent, were rejections, with only 105 Egyptians granted full refugee status, 20 subsidiary protection, and 1,660 national protection.

Morocco followed with 9,485 applications, registering the second-highest rejection rate among all top 10 nationalities.

The table showed that 5,695 of 6,315 decisions, or 90.18 per cent, were turned down, as only 95 Moroccans received refugee status and five received subsidiary protection.

Tunisians filed 6,290 applications, and of the 5,895 decisions, 5,035 or 85.41 per cent were rejected. Only 190 Tunisians were granted refugee status, 25 subsidiary protection, and 645 national protection.

The report also recorded other African nationalities among unaccompanied minors who sought asylum in Italy in 2025. These include Gambia (61 unaccompanied children), Mali (44), Guinea (42), Burkina Faso (34), Somalia (30), Ivory Coast (27), Senegal (9), and Nigeria (16).

According to the data, Italy is managing rising asylum demand amid declining approval rates.

It said, “In 2025, 126,635 first asylum requests were registered in Italy, representing a decrease compared to 2024 (when 151,120 applications were registered), but still almost double the number of applications registered in 2022 (77,200).”

Italy processed 104,560 first-instance decisions throughout 2025, even as “the overall protection rate (including special protection) at first instance stood at 30%, a slight decrease compared to 2024, when it was 35%, but even more significant if compared with 2022, when the protection rate was of 47%,” the document noted.

In total, 5,965 decisions or 5.7 per cent led to refugee status, 11,455 or 10.96 per cent to subsidiary protection, and 13,945 or 13.34 per cent to national protection.

As of December 2025, 234,165 applications remained pending.

The Italian government processes asylum claims through 20 Territorial Commissions and 23 sub-commissions under a three-tier protection framework.

Asylum seekers can appeal rejections before civil courts, with a final right of recourse to the Council of State.

In October 2024, the Court of Justice of the European Union struck down Italy’s mechanism for designating “safe countries of origin,” forcing Nigeria’s removal from the list.

The designation had previously subjected applications from Nigerians to accelerated procedures that put asylum claims at a disadvantage.

Italy’s asylum system faced further shakeup in 2025 from the Italy-Albania Agreement, under which migrants intercepted at sea were transferred to Albanian territory for processing under Italian jurisdiction.

The AIDA report said this arrangement faced repeated legal challenges throughout the year 2025.

On accommodation, the report noted that as of December 31, 2025, 101,106 asylum seekers were housed in emergency reception centres, 3,342 in government centres, and 3,652 in hotspots.

Arrivals by sea in 2025 amounted to 66,296, slightly down from the 66,617 in 2024 but less than half of the 157,651 arrivals recorded in 20233. The highest volume of migrants who arrived in Italy by sea originated from Bangladesh (20,164), Egypt (9,091), Eritrea (7,579), Pakistan (4,383), and Sudan (4,183).