Two particularly seminal decisions influencing PSG determination worldwide have been Matter of Acosta (1985, United States), and Ward (1993, Canada).
Examples of PSGs identified in various countries include women (and various subsets thereof), homosexuals and others with non-mainstream sexual orientations, specific families, and the poor.
[5] In 2002, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) published updated guidance for the interpretation of the PSG category.
The characteristic will often be one which is innate, unchangeable, or which is otherwise fundamental to identity, conscience or the exercise of one’s human rights.The UNHCR document offered the following additional guidelines regarding PSG membership: The application of the PSG criterion in the United States is governed by decisions and clarifications made by the Board of Immigration Appeals as well as the United States courts of appeals.
[1] Drawing on the 2002 UNHCR guidelines, a series of decisions by BIA made 2008 onward gave importance to two additional criteria for defining a PSG: particularity and social visibility.
Asylum decisions in the UK based on particular social groups have stressed the need to make a two-fold case:[14] In 1999, the House of Lords in the United Kingdom granted asylum to two Pakistani women based on severe violence they faced at their husbands' hands and their fears of false charges of adultery.
The case established three necessary conditions for women to get asylum for domestic violence based on particular social group status:[14]