BIA Rules EU Citizens Presumptively Ineligible for Asylum

You filed Form I-589 (the asylum application) and listed France — or another EU country — as your home country. After the Board of Immigration Appeals issued a landmark ruling on October 9, 2026, your case just got significantly harder. The BIA held in Matter of B-S-A-N- that EU citizens are presumptively ineligible for a discretionary grant of asylum in the United States, because they can legally live in any of the 27 EU member states.

What the BIA Actually Decided

The case involved a dual citizen of France and Gabon who had lived most of her life in Gabon. She argued that Gabonese government agents would track her down and harm her if she returned to France. The BIA rejected that argument. Her two sisters had lived in France for years without being harmed. The former Gabonese president who her family opposed was removed from power in a 2023 coup and relocated to Angola in 2025. The BIA found her fear of persecution in France was not objectively reasonable — and denied asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), a treaty that bars the US from sending someone to a country where they face torture.

But the ruling goes further than this one case. The BIA set two binding rules for all immigration courts. First, immigration judges should generally deny asylum claims from nationals of highly developed democratic countries that broadly protect human rights — unless there are extraordinary national security or foreign policy circumstances. Second, EU citizens face a specific presumption against asylum eligibility, because EU law already gives them the right to live permanently in any EU member state. That means an EU citizen must overcome this presumption before an immigration judge will even consider the merits of their claim.

Who This Affects

This ruling directly affects anyone from an EU country — France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, and 22 others — who has filed or plans to file Form I-589 in the asylum application process. It also affects nationals of other wealthy democracies, such as the UK, Canada, Australia, or Japan, though the EU presumption is the sharpest new rule. Dual citizens face a double burden: they must show they have a well-founded fear of persecution in every country where they hold citizenship, not just one. If you hold EU citizenship alongside citizenship from a country where you do face persecution, you must prove France — or whichever EU country you could move to — would not protect you either.

What to Do

• If you are an EU citizen with a pending asylum application, talk to an immigration lawyer immediately. The BIA's ruling is binding on all immigration judges, and your case strategy may need to change.
• Gather concrete, documented evidence — not just your own statements — showing why you cannot safely live in the specific EU country where you hold citizenship. Speculation alone will not meet the legal standard.
• If you are a dual citizen, be prepared to address each country of citizenship separately in your application and at your immigration court hearing.
• Check whether you may qualify for other forms of protection, such as withholding of removal or CAT protection, which use different legal standards — an immigration attorney can assess your options.

A full breakdown of this topic — in our guide “Immigration Court Rulings”.