“Where I come from and how I got here: assessing credibility in asylum cases”

Asylum seekers are expected to tell a credible story about who they are, where they come from and why they fled. Asylum officials evaluate this story through a series of interviews. This dissertation found that many asylum officials ask closed questions that do not give asylum seekers the room to tell their stories in their own words. In addition, few of these questions align with what most people know about their home environment.  As a result, they do not accurately test reality. This study presents several recommendations for improvement, such as asking more open-ended questions in a way that aligns with the asylum seekers perception of the world.

The research in this dissertation was made possible by a grant from the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate – Legal Psychology (EMJD-LP) programme, awarded to Tanja van Veldhuizen (FPA 2013-0036/SGA 2013-1438).