AT least 6,704 Nigerians applied for international protection in Cyprus between 2021 and 2025, according to the latest country report by the Asylum Information Database, a project of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, compiled using data from Cyprus’s Asylum Service and the European Union Agency for Asylum.
News Point Nigeria reports that the figure, which represents the aggregate number of yearly Nigerian applications recorded in AIDA’s Cyprus Country Reports for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, places Nigeria among the most consistent sources of asylum seekers into the Mediterranean island nation during the period under review.
However, the report also revealed a sharp decline in applications from Nigerians, with asylum claims dropping by about 70 per cent between 2022 and 2025.
A year-by-year breakdown showed that Cyprus recorded 1,555 Nigerian asylum applicants in 2021, rising significantly to 3,148 in 2022 before falling to 1,019 in 2023. The number declined further to 554 in 2024 and 428 in 2025, the lowest figure recorded within the five-year period.
According to the 2025 data, out of 565 individuals affected by decisions concerning Nigerian applicants, only 270 cases were processed as in-merit decisions. Meanwhile, 546 decisions were classified as overall rejections, a category the report said includes all rejection decisions, inadmissibility rulings, withdrawals and closed files.
Of the 546 rejections recorded that year, only 254 were classified as strict in-merit rejections.
The report further showed that just 11 Nigerians were granted refugee status in 2025, while five others received subsidiary protection. This translated to an overall protection rate of 0.16 per cent and an in-merit protection rate of 0.36 per cent, among the lowest recorded for major nationalities in the 2025 dataset.
In 2021, Nigeria recorded 1,555 applicants, with only nine people granted refugee status and none receiving subsidiary protection. A total of 498 applications were rejected, resulting in a rejection rate of 98.2 per cent.
The trend continued in 2022 when Nigerians filed 3,148 asylum applications. Only 11 applicants secured refugee status, none obtained subsidiary protection, while 670 applications were rejected, representing a rejection rate of 98.4 per cent.
In 2023, the rejection rate remained unchanged at 98.4 per cent. Out of 1,019 Nigerian applicants, only 43 were granted refugee status and two received subsidiary protection, while a backlog of 2,816 pending decisions accumulated during the year.
By 2024, the number of new Nigerian applicants fell to 554, joining 288 already pending cases. Out of a total of 995 decisions processed that year, only 77 resulted in refugee status grants.
The data also showed that Nigeria consistently ranked among the top four countries of origin for asylum seekers in Cyprus every year since 2021, alongside countries such as Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Syria topped the list of asylum applications every year except in 2025, when many Syrians reportedly chose to remain in their country following the fall of the Assad regime.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon alternated among the top countries of origin during the period, while applicants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India accounted for a significant share of appeals filed after initial rejections.
“The top five nationalities registering an appeal were Nigeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nepal,” the 2023 report stated regarding proceedings before Cyprus’s International Protection Administrative Court.
In 2024, Nigerians filed 1,241 appeals, the highest of any nationality that year. The appeal-stage rejection rate stood at 7.63 per cent, while refugee recognition at the appeal level remained at zero per cent.
In 2025, Nigerians submitted 411 appeals, ranking second only to the 1,394 appeals filed by applicants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A major factor behind the sustained high rejection rates was Cyprus’s designation of Nigeria as a “safe country of origin” in 2021. Nigeria was listed alongside Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Ghana and Senegal.
Under the policy, applicants from designated safe countries are subjected to accelerated examination procedures, shorter processing timeframes and a built-in presumption against the validity of their claims.
Despite the high rejection rates, Cyprus remains home to a substantial and growing Nigerian population. The majority are international students enrolled in private universities across the country, while others are workers, dependents and a smaller number of asylum seekers who often apply after their student or work permits expire or after entering through irregular routes from the Turkish-administered northern part of the island.
Under European Union and Cypriot asylum laws, refugee status is granted only where an applicant can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group.
Subsidiary protection, on the other hand, applies to individuals who do not qualify as refugees but can establish a real risk of serious harm if returned to their country, including torture, the death penalty or indiscriminate violence arising from armed conflict.
The report underscores both the scale of Nigerian migration pressures and the significant challenges faced by Nigerian asylum seekers in securing international protection in Cyprus, where rejection rates have remained consistently high despite thousands of applications over the last five years.