Refugee Status Determination Interview
Conduct a Refugee Status Determination Officer (RSDO) preparation interview with Mr Amir Osman, a 29-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan who fled Khartoum in December 2025. Assess credibility, map his claim against s3 of the Refugees Act, and prepare a persuasive written representation to accompany his BI-1590 application.
Your role
Legal Advisor at Lawyers for Human Rights
Scenario
THE APPLICANT Mr Amir Mohamed Osman (29), Sudanese national, native Arabic speaker with intermediate English. Married to Ms Salma Ibrahim (26). One daughter, Layla (age 4), currently in Cairo with maternal grandparents. Ethnic origin: Nuba (from the Nuba Mountains region of South Kordofan). Faith: Muslim. Profession: former journalist for Al-Sharq Al-Awsat regional bureau, Khartoum. JOURNEY April 2023: Rapid Support Forces (RSF) civil war erupted in Khartoum. Amirs home in Al-Amarat destroyed by air-strike May 2023. His brother Yusuf detained by RSF July 2023 — status unknown. August 2023: Amir published a Reuters op-ed critical of RSF atrocities in El-Geneina. October 2023: Received two threats via WhatsApp from a number linked to RSF media unit (You will be dealt with like Yusuf). November 2025: Fled Khartoum via road to Wadi Halfa → Aswan (Egypt) → Cairo. Left wife/daughter with in-laws in Cairo because of Egyptian residency restrictions on Sudanese men. December 2025: Flew Cairo → Nairobi → Johannesburg on a Sudanese passport with an expired Kenyan transit visa. Reported to Home Affairs Marabastad on 14 December 2025. Section 22 asylum-seeker permit issued (expires 14 June 2026, renewable). RSDO interview scheduled 21 July 2026. THE CLAIM Amir claims a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of (i) his political opinion (journalism critical of the RSF); (ii) his membership of a particular social group (Nuba ethnicity, historically persecuted in Sudan); and (iii) the ongoing generalized violence (Refugees Act s3(b)). CREDIBILITY POINTS TO PROBE - Delay: 2 years between op-ed and flight (Oct 2023 threats → Nov 2025 departure). Explanation: attempted internal relocation to Port Sudan, worked odd jobs, wife pregnancy loss. - Route via Egypt without claiming asylum there — Egypt has not ratified the 1967 Protocols labour-rights provisions and Sudanese cannot easily register. - Passport not stamped exit Sudan — border crossing at Wadi Halfa is chaotic; corroborated by UNHCR situation reports. APPLICABLE LAW Refugees Act 130/1998 ss 3(a), 3(b), 4 (exclusion); UN 1951 Convention Art 1A(2) & 1F; OAU 1969 Convention Art I(2); Refugees Regulations 2018 — reg 8; Immigration Act 13/2002 s34; PAJA 3 of 2000 (procedural fairness at RSDO); Ruta v Minister of Home Affairs 2019 (2) SA 329 (CC); Abdi v Minister of Home Affairs 2011 (3) SA 37 (SCA).
Learning outcomes
- Apply the 1951 Convention & Refugees Act
- Conduct trauma-informed interviews
- Draft interview record and submissions
- Cite country-of-origin information
Tasks you'll complete
Interview Plan
Trauma-informed interview plan (opening, chronology, persecution, credibility, closing).
Interview Record
500-word interview record in the client's voice.
Legal Submissions
Submissions to the RSDO applying the refugee definition to the facts, citing COI.
Document pack
You'll receive 4 case documents when the simulation starts.