African Immigrant Rights Council

FROM THE DESK OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SHARIFA KALOKOLA

March 1, 2025

How to prepare for your asylum interview 

One way to prepare for your asylum interview is to read, and consider, questions that asylum officers asked other applicants. Maybe you will be asked the same questions.

https://winyourasylumcase.blogspot.com is an online source of questions that were asked, of applicants from many countries. Here are some questions from a posting on September 1, 2024, of an activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo:

Personal Persecution and Harm

• Did you suffer physical harm in your country? When was the first time? You say a man hit you? What was he wearing? Was it a police uniform? Why did you believe it was a policeman? Did other people believe it was a policeman?
• What weapons did he have? Where on your body did he hit you?
• What language did he speak? What words did he say? Did he know what your ethnic group was? How could he know it?
• Did he know what your religion was? How could he know it?
• Did he know what your political opinion was?
• Any scars? Any photos of scars?
• Where were you at the moment of your arrest?
• What thoughts went through your mind, at that time?
• Why were you arrested? Who arrested you? What weapons did he have? What words did he say? What language did he speak?

Identity and Risk Factors

• How would anyone know what your ethnic group was?
• How would anyone know what your religion was?
• How would anyone know what your political opinion was?
• How were you treated differently from others?
• Was your village treated differently from others? Why?

Motive and Persecution Patterns

• Why did the soldiers attack that village, and not another one?
• Why did the soldiers want to harm you? What words did they say?
• What was the motive of the bad guys? What did the bad guys know about you?