https://transrescue.org/asylum-for-trans-brits-and-americans-we-need-to-talk

05/08/2025

If you are a British or American trans person, things are not looking good. For Brits there’s a horrifyingly speedy descent into a TERF utopia after the UK Supreme Court sided with transphobes, while for Americans there’s Trump and MAGA. As people scramble for the exit a lot of them are asking about claiming asylum in another country as a means to reach safety.

We would not advise a British or American trans person to seek asylum because we think it’s a dangerous path, and that at the time of writing this piece such a claim would almost certainly be refused, leading to rapid removal from the place in which they have sought refuge. It seems many people don’t understand why that is the case, so it’s necessary to go into detail about it.

How Are Asylum Claims Evaluated?

There are a set of criteria by which asylum claims are evaluated, commonly called the “8 criteria test”. They are reasonable criteria, but are interpreted by the country you are seeking asylum from, not you as the person seeking asylum. They are not interested whether the conditions that led you to seek asylum are bad. They know they are bad. Instead they are interested in whether your situation meets their interpretation of the criteria. Inevitably that interpretation sets a high bar, and while some of the criteria will still meet those standards, others will not.

In short, someone seeking asylum needs to show they are in real, immediate, deadly danger. Discrimination and humiliation in the US and UK don’t qualify.