4.2.1. Institutional and staff changes to manage the Dublin procedure

The workload for Dublin units typically increased throughout 2022, as the number of applications for international protection significantly grew in general (see Section 4.1.3). Several national authorities, for example in Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Norway, Romania and Switzerland, noted that a shortage of staff was one of the main challenges in 2022 to manage the increasing workload related to Dublin cases. The recruitment of new staff continued (for example in Belgium, Germany, Norway and Sweden), while staff turnover was highlighted as a significant challenge in Czechia, Finland, France and Malta.

Staff from Dublin units were often temporarily re-assigned to help with the registration of persons requesting temporary protection in spring 2022, for example in Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Switzerland. In Member States next to Ukraine, Dublin transfers were temporarily halted due to the general situation in asylum and reception, and Dublin staff were re-assigned to other tasks for longer periods. In Bulgaria, the re-assignment of staff created a temporary backlog in ongoing Dublin cases. In Switzerland, there were general delays in the asylum procedure (including the Dublin procedure) caused by both the increase in applications in general and the workload related to temporary protection. The daily tasks of Dublin units seemed to have been less impacted by the activation of the Temporary Protection Directive in the last quarter of 2022.

In Ireland, a specific division within the Dublin unit was established in March 2022 in order to examine applications pursuant to Article 17.