Asylum and Refugee Status

Refugees are persons forced to flee their countries of origin because of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.

Provision of prima facie refugee status to refugees and asylum-seekers arriving from Yemen is still in place in all states of Somalia. In Somaliland, the government has extended this to Afghans, Syrians and Palestinians, all other nationalities in each region are required to undergo individual RSD.

Registration is conducted by the government counterpart in partnership with UNHCR. In case you wish to apply for asylum in Somalia, you should present yourself to the respective authorities depending on the location of registration:

The National Commission for Refugees and IDPs (NCRI) is the responsible body at the Federal level, overseeing the registration process in the southern and central regions of Somalia .

In Somaliland , the registration is conducted by the National Displacement and Refugee Agency (NDRA) Address

For Puntland , registration is conducted by the Human Protection Department of the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affair and Democratization (HPD-MoIFAD) Address

During the registration process, important information relating to you, your family members and relatives in Somalia and abroad will be collected.

Once the registration is completed, you will be provided with documentation to enable you to stay in Somalia for the period between the registration and the decision on your application (if an individual asylum claim is lodged) and to gain access to services provided by the Federal Government of Somalia, Federal Member States, UNHCR and its partners.

Once you have registered your application for asylum, you will be invited to come for an interview, unless you came from a country that will be granted prima facie refugee status upon registration.

Pending a decision on your application for asylum, you are allowed to stay in Somalia and afforded international protection especially against refoulement (forced deportation/removal).

For those who are initially found not to be refugees, the procedure allows the individual an opportunity to appeal that decision.

Registration is conducted by the government counterpart in partnership with UNHCR.

is the responsible body at the Federal level, overseeing the registration process in the southern and central regions of Somalia

In Somaliland , the registration is conducted by the National Displacement and Refugee Agency (NDRA)

For Puntland , registration is conducted by the Human Protection Department of the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affair and Democratization (HPD-MoIFAD)

If you do not possess any of those documents above, please do not resort to producing fraudulent ones. You can explain the reason for the lack of documents during the interview.