This research project seeks to conceptualize an inclusive framework for the Refugee Status Determination of gender identity and expression-based claims. It seeks to critically evaluate current practice, drawing also on a doctrinal and discursive analysis of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In order for current challenges to be identified in the context of the doctrine and practice of Refugee Status Determination, I will attempt to develop a Transgender Studies Framework for asylum adjudication, based on Transgender Studies and its relation to Queer Theory, to which I will juxtapose the CJEU and ECtHR case law on asylum and LGBTQ+ rights. Given that gender identity is a complex concept often articulated in heteronormative or medical terms, the refugee determination process will be analyzed in relation to the challenges but also the potential it provides for encompassing the experience of transgender and gender nonconforming asylum claimants, including gender expression claims. Contemporary developments in good practices in the field of gender identity/expression and evolving human rights norms will inform the study. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: to reveal the judicial cisheteronormativity in asylum practice and to reimagine a respectful, just and diverse experienceencompassing framework for transgender and gender nonconforming asylum claims expanding the protection of Human Rights Law in EU and Europe.