Asylum Procedure for individuals who are detained or passing through a reception/identification procedure
If you are detained by the Police or you are staying in a Reception and Identification Center (RIC), the Authorities of Detention or Reception and Identification will inform the Asylum Service regarding your wish to submit an application for international protection and the full registration of your application will be scheduled.
On the day of your full registration, you will be transferred to the nearest Regional Asylum Office or you will be fully registered by an Asylum Unit that is operating within the facility where you are detained.
The registration will be conducted with the assistance of an interpreter in a language that you comprehend, and the Asylum Service staff will provide you with all necessary information about the procedure.
You should have with you any documents you have in your possession that prove your identity, such as a passport, or other documents relating to your application. When submitting your application you will be photographed and fingerprinted.
After the registration of your application, instead of an international protection applicant’s card, you will be given a document stating the date when you must attend your interview.
If you submit an application for international protection while you are detained for having committed a criminal offense, you will remain detained until you serve the sentence imposed on you.
If you submit an application for international protection while you are in detention due to illegal entry into the country or because your return to your country of origin is still pending, you might remain in detention, in case it is considered by the Police that in your case no alternative measures may be imposed, for the following reasons:
a) for the verification of your true identity or country of origin; or
b) for the determination of those elements on which the application for international protection is based which may not be obtained in the absence of detention, in particular when there is a risk of absconding; or
c) when there are reasonable grounds to believe that you make the application for international protection merely in order to delay or frustrate the enforcement of the return decision; or
d) if your presence in the country is considered a threat to national security or public order; or
e) when there is a serious risk of absconding in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 and in order for the transfer procedure to be enforced in accordance with the aforementioned Regulation.
Your detention may extend from fifty (50) days to eighteen (18) months depending on the grounds for your detention. The Police Director decides upon your detention. There should be detailed reasoning in his/her decision.
You have the right to submit an objection against the decision for your detention before the President or the competent Judge of the Administrative Court of First Instance of the region where you are detained.
If you decide to explicitly withdraw your application you must state this in person before the competent staff member of the Asylum Service. If an Autonomous Asylum Unit does not operate inside or near the facility where you are detained, you will have to be transferred by the competent authorities to the nearest Regional Asylum Office for that purpose.
If you are detained or you are confined in a Reception and Identification Centre, you must be given your international protection applicant’s card on the day of your release or after the Reception and Identification procedures are completed, in case the examination of your application is still pending. You also need to promptly present yourself to the competent Regional Asylum Office in order to declare your contact information and be provided with an applicant’s card, in case you haven’t received one already.
You will be notified regarding the decision concerning your application by the competent employee of the Asylum Service in person, or the Director of the Detention Authority, Center of Facility.
If your application is rejected, you have the right to submit an appeal in person before the competent staff member of the Asylum Service.
If an Autonomous Asylum Unit does not operate inside or near the facility where you are detained, you will have to be transferred to the nearest Regional Asylum Office.
In case you are staying in a Facility or in case you reside in a great distance from the Asylum Office that issued the decision, you may submit your appeal to the nearest Regional Asylum Service Office or the Director of the Facility.
If the decision is positive, a release decision will be issued. The day that you are released, you will be provided with the necessary documents. You will also need to immediately present yourself by all means to the competent Regional Asylum Office to state your home address and your contact information.
