In the context of asylum, the term ‘safe country’ refers to countries which ensure effective protection.
EU law provides three safe country concepts which can be applied in the asylum procedure. They are regulated in Section 5 of the Asylum Procedure Regulation:
- safe country of origin
- safe third country
- first country of asylum
Regulation (EU) 2026/464 sets out the list of countries designated as safe countries of origin at the EU level, which include: Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco, Tunisia and EU accession candidate countries with the exception of Ukraine.
Regulation (EU) 2026/463 sets out rules on the application of the safe third country concept.
For countries not bound by the APR – namely Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland – a similar national legal framework applies. References to these countries should be read in relation to the applicable national legal framework.
The information in this page has been validated by all EU+ countries except for Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland.
The data visualisations present the countries which implement the concepts of a safe country of origin, a safe third country and a European safe third country in order to process an asylum application accordingly.
Overview of countries applying the concept of safe countries
Hover over a country and “click more" to view relevant information about the implementation of safe country concept in each country.
Overview of countries applying the concept of safe third countries
Use the tabs at the top of the visualisation to navigate to the next and previous data. Hover over a country and “click more" to view countries which have adopted a list of designated safe countries.
Overview of the Implementation of Safe Country Concepts
Overview of the Implementation of Safe Country Concepts (July 2026)
Overview of the Implementation of Safe Country Concepts. Situational Update No 24 (January 2026)