Pathways to safety are disappearing for LGBTQI+ people around the world. In 2025, the Canadian government introduced two separate pieces of legislation that target asylum seekers. The names of these bills reveal the government’s intention; C-2 the Strong Borders Act, which was eventually abandoned after public pressure, and the second, C-12 the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act which became law.
The Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act undermines access to asylum, and makes the process of claiming asylum more difficult for LGBTQI+ claimants. The Act limits the right to claim asylum by imposing a one-year bar on the ability to secure a hearing before the independent Immigration and Refugee Board. It also imposes harsh penalties for failing to meet deadlines in the immigration process, putting vulnerable LGBTQI+ people at risk.
Our data shows the impact these and other laws around the world are having on LGBTQI+ people seeking safety. We received 20,215 requests for help in 2025; more than 7,000 of these requests came from countries where it is extremely difficult or impossible to find pathways to safety.
In 2024 we supported 242 people through our Emergency Travel Support program. In 2025 that number dropped to 85, representing a 65% decline, and only 8 of those people were able to leave countries where routes to safety are extremely difficult to map. We are also seeing a worrying number of requests for help from within the European Union. Despite the EU’s public commitment to international human rights, LGBTQI+ refugees in the bloc are facing serious protection gaps, an issue we are actively monitoring.
Across the international landscape, Canada’s new laws are not unique. By mid-2025 the UNHCR was reporting that policy changes by several countries were expected to lead to further substantial reductions of new asylum applications. Because of these policy changes, reported statistics on individual asylum applications are likely to become less reflective of the true number of people who need to access asylum globally.
Historically, the United States was the world’s leading resettlement country, accepting more refugees in most years than all other resettlement countries combined. In January 2025, the administration suspended the United States Refugee Admissions Program. For fiscal year 2026 (October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026), the US will reduce resettlement numbers by 94%, to 7,500 people, and most slots will be allocated to white Afrikaners from South Africa. Although the administration later decided to lift a previous asylum adjudication pause, the landscape remains uncertain, making life even more challenging and precarious for LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum.
The UK has also proposed aggressive reforms to their immigration system.
Proposals to make refugee status temporary, limit the number of safe pathways, and create fast-track removals will have a major impact on asylum seekers in the country. These reforms are said to have been influenced by Denmark’s already harsh asylum system, and may be even more restrictive.
Germany likewise implemented significant changes in 2025, contributing to the gradual erosion of the asylum system and running counter to the spirit of The 1951 Refugee Convention. German policy has also wavered on issuing humanitarian visas for Russians and Belarusians facing political persecution at home.
Offshoring Agreements and Shrinking Access to Safety
Another disturbing trend in 2025 that will negatively impact LGBTQI+ people seeking pathways to safety is the “offshoring” of refugees. The Netherlands and Uganda made one such deal, under which the Dutch government would send claimants to Uganda. The Dutch government has said that they would not send LGBTQI+ claimants to Uganda, which is cold comfort for LGBTQI+ people fleeing persecution. This follows Australia’s enhanced legal rules for paying third countries to accept people Australia intends to deport. This legal change caps 25 years of Australian involvement in extended off-shore detention.
All these changes point to the incoming European Pact on Migration, which will introduce new restrictions across the European Union. The Pact includes provisions that, once implemented, will severely curtail human rights. These new rules will make it harder for individuals to access the right to seek asylum, as well as making it easier to rush decisions on asylum applications. This will disproportionately impact LGBTQI+ asylum seekers, and will increase instances of detention. Human Rights Watch has expressed that these changes encourage EU states to return people to transit countries outside the EU where they could face abuse or chain refoulement. While the EU may identify a country as “safe” for refugees, safety may not apply equally to LGBTQI+ refugees.
A System Built to Exclude: The EU Pact on Migration
Rainbow Railroad received 269 requests for help from the 27-country EU bloc last year. This is a 49% increase over 2024, when we received 181. Two thirds of these requests came from asylum seekers, temporary residents, registered refugees and people with no legal status. Individuals living in this context have expressed fears about their urgent needs for support; one individual shared “I have felt ignored, exposed, and treated as a number rather than as a human being. My real and urgent needs for protection and healthcare were ignored.”
Behind the language of efficiency, solidarity, and border management is a system built to exclude, detain, and deport. The Pact will make seeking pathways to safety across the EU more difficult and dangerous for LGBTQI+ people. The Pact weakens the procedural rights of asylum seekers; for instance, trans people will be systematically exposed to detention, where they will be segregated based on the gender markers on their official documents, leading to heightened vulnerability, discrimination, as well as physical, mental and sexual abuse. One family impacted by the Pact shared the following: “We traveled through Czechia but did not apply for asylum there. We applied for asylum in Denmark, but our case was rejected under the Dublin Regulation. Denmark plans to deport us to Czechia, even though we face real danger there (we have received threats and cannot rely on protection from Czech authorities). We suffer from serious mental health conditions: PTSD, OCD, hallucinations, borderline personality disorder, severe anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. We are under medical treatment, and doctors have confirmed that deportation would place us at extreme risk.”
These developments are part of a broad global trend towards restricting access to asylum and externalizing refugee protection. These policies are being advanced despite, and in contravention to, the obligations states have under the 1951 Refugee Convention. Returning a LGBTQI+ asylum seeker to a country that criminalizes and persecutes LGBTQI+ people is a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
Policies shaping the treatment of LGBTQI+ claimants across the EU demand scrutiny. The Pact is a clear assault on the EU’s foundational values of human dignity, human rights, and freedoms. Rainbow Railroad will continue to document, monitor, and speak out on the impact of the EU Pact on Migration, and the risks it poses to LGBTQI+ people.
Read more of our insights in our 2025 Annual Report: Understanding the State of Global LGBTQI+ Persecution.