Arguing that the EU does not follow a “one-size-fits-all” approach in its external cooperation on asylum and migration policies but that it takes into consideration domestic factors and specifically third countries' asylum legislations, we tried to prove that the EU engagement with third countries on asylum is greater the more advanced their association status is and the more progressive their national legislations on asylum are. The analysis focuses on two case studies: Lebanon and Turkey and narrows down the focus on two main variables: third-countries national legislations, and their accession status to the EU.