The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) has disclosed that no fewer than 897 Nigerians secured asylum in the United States over the past two years.
The data from EOIR showed that in 2023, US judges granted asylum to 514 Nigerians while another 383 Nigerians were granted asylum in 2024.
The figures marked a 25% decrease between the two years.
The EOIR published the annual report via the United States Department of Justice’s ‘Asylum Decisions by Nationality’ portal, which includes data on every country that has registered asylum cases so far.
Number of Nigerians seeking asylum was the third highest among African nations.
Nigeria is behind Cameroon, which has the highest number with 527 Cameroonians seeking asylum.
Other African countries with notable numbers include Ethiopia (291), Ghana (238), Egypt (203), Eritrea (193), Uganda (86), Senegal (99), and Sudan (42).
Meanwhile, on a global scale, Russia recorded the highest number of asylum grants in 2024 with 3,605 approvals.
Russia is followed by China with 2,998 grants. Venezuela and Nicaragua recorded 2,656 and 2,000 grants to complete the top four.
