The territory of The Bahamas is comprised of about 700 different islands, atolls and cays, spread out across a wide swath of the northern Caribbean in the Atlantic Ocean. Given its location and more than 3,500 kilometres of coastline, the country is subject to complex mixed movements and protection-at-sea challenges. Maritime smuggling of Haitians has become increasingly frequent the past year as the Caribbean Island nation deals with multiple humanitarian challenges. 

The Bahamas acceded to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol in 1993. The Bahamas does not have a national legislation governing refugee status determination. There has been an ad hoc Government refugee status determination procedure in the Bahamas since 2007. In agreement when the Government, UNHCR conducted refugee status determination under its mandate 2015-2020 when it was fully handed over to the Government. In 2016, in the absence of asylum/refugee legislation, The Bahamas adopted standard operating procedures, which formally established a Refugee Administration Unit within the Department of Immigration.