Italy Rejects 2,220 Nigerians Seeking Asylum

• Italy rejected 2,220 Nigerian asylum claims in first-instance decisions in 2025, while 1,175 Nigerians received protection and 4,120 cases remained pending.

Italian authorities rejected 2,220 Nigerian asylum claims in first-instance decisions in 2025, while granting some form of protection to 1,175 Nigerians, according to the Asylum Information Database’s country report on Italy.

The report recorded 3,385 asylum applications from Nigerians during the year, making Nigeria the only sub-Saharan African country among Italy’s 10 leading nationalities of asylum seekers.

The report was produced by the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration under a European Council on Refugees and Exiles project, using figures from Italy’s Asylum Service and the European Union Agency for Asylum.

Authorities issued approximately 3,390 first-instance decisions on Nigerian cases during the year. Applications lodged and decisions issued within a reporting year do not necessarily concern the same applicants.

Of the Nigerian cases decided, 660 resulted in full refugee status, representing a recognition rate of 19.47 per cent.

That was the highest refugee recognition rate among the top 10 nationalities and more than three times Italy’s national average of 5.7 per cent.

Another 55 Nigerians received subsidiary protection, while 460 were granted national or special protection, known as protezione speciale.

Combined, the figures put the overall protection rate for Nigerian applicants at 34.66 per cent, above Italy’s national rate of 30 per cent.

A further 4,120 Nigerian asylum cases remained pending as of December 31, 2025.

Among African countries, Egypt recorded 11,790 applications. However, 8,900 of the 10,685 decisions on Egyptian cases ended in rejection, representing 83.30 per cent.

Moroccan nationals submitted 9,485 applications, while 5,695 of the 6,315 decisions on their cases were rejections—a rate of 90.18 per cent.

Tunisians lodged 6,290 applications, with 5,035 of the 5,895 decisions rejected, representing 85.41 per cent.

The report also recorded asylum applications from unaccompanied African children, including 16 Nigerians, 61 Gambians, 44 Malians, 42 Guineans and 30 Somalis.

Across all nationalities, Italy registered 126,635 first asylum applications in 2025, down from 151,120 in 2024.

Italian authorities delivered 104,560 first-instance decisions during the year. Of these, 5,965 granted refugee status, 11,455 awarded subsidiary protection and 13,945 resulted in national protection.

The overall first-instance protection rate fell to 30 per cent, compared with 35 per cent in 2024 and 47 per cent in 2022, according to the report.

Despite the decline in new applications, 234,165 cases remained pending at the end of December 2025.

The report also highlighted legal challenges surrounding the Italy-Albania arrangement, under which migrants intercepted at sea were transferred to Albania for processing under Italian jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Italy recorded 66,296 arrivals by sea in 2025, slightly below the 66,617 recorded in 2024 and substantially lower than the 157,651 arrivals in 2023.

Bangladesh accounted for the largest number of sea arrivals, followed by Egypt, Eritrea, Pakistan and Sudan.