Editing Refugee (section)

==Refugee status==
{{Further|Refugee Act of 1980}}
In the United States, the term refugee is defined under the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952|Immigration of Nationality Act]] (INA).<ref>{{USCSub|8|1101|a|42}}</ref> In other countries, it is often used in different contexts: in everyday usage it refers to a forcibly displaced person who has fled his or her country of origin; in a more specific context it refers to such a person who was, on top of that, granted refugee status in the country the person fled to. Even more exclusive is the Convention refugee status which is given only to persons who fall within the refugee definition of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

To receive refugee status, a person must have applied for asylum, making them—while waiting for a decision—an asylum seeker. However, a displaced person otherwise legally entitled to refugee status may never apply for asylum, or may not be allowed to apply in the country they fled to and thus may not have official asylum seeker status.

Once a displaced person is granted refugee status they enjoy certain [[Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees#Rights and responsibilities of parties to the Refugee Convention|rights]] as agreed in the 1951 Refugee convention. Not all countries have signed and ratified this convention and some countries do not have a legal procedure for dealing with asylum seekers.

===Seeking asylum===
{{main|Asylum seeker}}
[[File:Erstaufnahmelager Jenfelder Moorpark 4.jpg|thumb|Erstaufnahmelager [[Hamburg|Jenfelder]] Moorpark]]
[[File:Refugees from Vietnam landing in Hamburg, Germany 1986.jpg|thumb|Refugees from [[Vietnam]] land at Hamburg on the Cap Anamur II in 1986]]

An asylum seeker is a displaced person or immigrant who has formally sought the protection of the state they fled to as well as the right to remain in this country and who is waiting for a decision on this formal application. An asylum seeker may have applied for Convention refugee status or for [[Asylum seeker#Complementary forms of protection|complementary forms of protection]]. Asylum is thus a category that includes different forms of protection. Which form of protection is offered depends on the [[#Legal definition|legal definition]] that best describes the asylum seeker's reasons to flee. Once the decision was made the asylum seeker receives either Convention refugee status or a complementary form of protection, and can stay in the country—or is refused asylum, and then often has to leave. Only after the state, territory or the UNHCR—wherever the application was made—recognises the protection needs does the asylum seeker ''officially'' receive refugee status. This carries certain rights and obligations, according to the legislation of the receiving country.

{{anchor|Qouta}}[[Quota refugee]]s do not need to apply for asylum on arrival in the third countries as they already went through the UNHCR refugee status determination process whilst being in the first country of asylum and this is usually accepted by the third countries.

===Refugee status determination===
[[File:The Sahrawi refugees&nbsp;– a forgotten crisis in the Algerian desert (7).jpg|thumb|For over 30 years, several tens of thousands of [[Sahrawi people|Sahrawi]] refugees have been living in the region of [[Tindouf, Algeria]], in the heart of the desert.]]
{{see|Refugee law#Refugee status determination|Asylum seeker#Status determination processes}}
To receive refugee status, a displaced person must go through a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process, which is conducted by the government of the country of asylum or the UNHCR, and is based on [[Refugee law|international, regional]] or national law.{{sfn|Refugee Status Determination}} RSD can be done on a case-by-case basis as well as for whole groups of people. Which of the [[Asylum seeker#Status determination processes|two processes]] is used often depends on the size of the influx of displaced persons.
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 117.png|thumb|After challenging Queen Jezebel, Elijah takes refuge in a cave until the voice of God calls him in this 1860 woodcut by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]].]]
There is no specific method mandated for RSD (apart from the commitment to the [[1951 Refugee Convention]]) and it is subject to the overall efficacy of the country's internal administrative and judicial system as well as the characteristics of the refugee flow to which the country responds. This lack of a procedural direction could create a situation where political and strategic interests override humanitarian considerations in the RSD process.{{sfn|Higgins|2016|pp=71–93}} There are also no fixed interpretations of the elements in the [[1951 Refugee Convention]] and countries may interpret them differently (see also [[refugee roulette]]).

However, in 2013, the UNHCR conducted them in more than 50 countries and co-conducted them parallel to or jointly with governments in another 20 countries, which made it the second largest RSD body in the world{{sfn|Refugee Status Determination}} The UNHCR follows a set of guidelines described in the ''Handbook and Guidelines on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status'' to determine which individuals are eligible for refugee status.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unhcr.org/4d93528a9.pdf|title=Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees |publisher=UNHCR |year=1979 |orig-year=Reedited, Geneva, January 1992}}</ref>