|
Austria |
2020 |
Legislative |
|
Persons with special needs in the asylum procedure |
The scope of the term family was widened. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Austria |
2019 |
Legislative |
|
Return of former applicants |
The act grants a postponement of the time limit for voluntary departure to rejected applicants who are in an apprenticeship. |
AT LEG 03 2019 |
|
Austria |
2020 |
Legislative |
|
Return of former applicants |
An amendment to the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum Procedures Act, promulgated on 23 December 2020, requires mandatory return counselling sessions to be held at an advanced stage of the procedure. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Austria |
2022 |
Policy |
|
Access to procedure |
The police in Austria changed the registration system by internal decree for applicants arriving at the border with Hungary. Unaccompanied minors, families and other vulnerable persons continued to be handled in the regular scheme, while other applicants were registered and finger-printed right at the border. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
Persons already benefitting from international protection in another EU Member State no longer receive material reception conditions. Dublin applicants who absconded and re-applied for reception after six months were also no longer entitled to material reception conditions. Fedasil evaluates these rejections on a case-by-case basis, taking into account any specific vulnerabilities of the applicant. |
EASO Asylum Report 2020 |
|
Belgium |
2021 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
Reception capacity was significantly increased throughout 2021, reaching 30,000 places in February 2022. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2022 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Legislative |
|
Content of protection |
The government announced its intention to create a separate right of residence through family reunification for parents of children who are recognised beneficiaries of international protection. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Policy |
|
Resettlement and humanitarian admissions |
The government pledged to resettle 500 refugees and to admit 125 people under humanitarian admission programmes. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Institutional |
|
Processing asylum applications at first instance |
The State Secretary for Asylum and Migration announced that it considered plans to merge the Immigration Office, the CGRS and Fedasil. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Policy |
|
Access to information |
Fedasil launched a multi-lingual information platform for applicants for international protection, www.fedasilinfo.be, accessible only from Belgium and available in 12 languages. |
EASO Asylum Report 2020 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
Fedasil and the Red Cross established an agreement with the Flemish Integration and Civic Integration Agency to notify the public of the opening of any new reception centre and the agency would appoint a liaison officer to support the local administration in addressing residents. |
EASO Asylum Report 2020 |
|
Belgium |
2021 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
A new feature of the online web application, Match-IT, was rolled out to document social aspects of an applicant. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2022 |
|
Belgium |
2020 |
Policy |
|
Country of origin information |
CEDOCA developed a new training programme on COI through an online tutorial. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Belgium |
2020 |
Policy |
|
Resettlement and humanitarian admissions |
A new community sponsorship programme was activated and the first families arrived to Belgium through this programme at the end of 2020. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Legislative |
|
Processing asylum applications at second or higher instance |
CALL launched a digital tool on 1 March 2022, entitled J-BOX, to exchange procedural documents electronically instead of using registered mail. The use of the tool became mandatory in appeals for accelerated and urgent measures. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
Fedasil presented its new management plan for the period 2021-2026. It defines the organisation’s strategic and operational objectives. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |
|
Belgium |
2020 |
Legislative |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
In order to fill gaps in labour market shortages caused by the pandemic, applicants were exceptionally exempted from the 4-month waiting period until 30 June 2020. In view of the continuing shortage of workers in some sectors due to the closing of the borders, this measure was resumed from December 2020 until 30 June 2021. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Policy |
|
Unaccompanied minors and vulnerable groups |
All new protection officers at the CGRS were trained on gender in the asylum procedure and a specialised training course was provided for more experienced protection officers and supervisors on cases involving gender-related grounds. |
EASO Asylum Report 2020 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Policy |
|
Access to procedure |
Fedasil made improvements to the arrival path in the temporary arrival centre in Brussels, rendering registration and lodging procedures quicker and more efficient. |
EASO Asylum Report 2020 |
|
Belgium |
2019 |
Legislative |
|
Content of protection |
A law proposal was put forth to reduce the period of exemption for beneficiaries of international protection from the requirement to have sufficient economic resources from one year to three months. |
BE LEG 01 2019 |
|
Belgium |
2021 |
Legislative |
|
Content of protection |
Changes to the integration path entered into force in the Flemish region of Belgium. The new programme includes four components (language learning, economic autonomy, social orientation and a 40-hour tandem programme with a Flemish ‘buddy’) and concludes with an exam. The compulsory programme is subject to a EUR 360 fee. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2022 |
|
Belgium |
2021 |
Policy |
|
Processing asylum applications at first instance |
The State Secretary for Asylum and Migration announced the recruitment of 700 new staff for the CGRS, the Immigration Office and Fedasil and published a vacancy notice in June 2021. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2022 |
|
Belgium |
2020 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
The Minister of Asylum and Migration announced new measures aiming to fight against the abuse of the asylum system. Persons already benefitting from international protection in another EU Member State no longer receive material reception conditions. Dublin applicants who abscond and re-apply for reception following 6 months are also no longer entitled to material reception conditions. Fedasil evaluated these rejections in an individual manner, case-by-case, taking into account any possible vulnerabilities. This policy was withdrawn later in 2020. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Belgium |
2020 |
Policy |
|
Processing asylum applications at first instance |
The Council of State suspended the project which aimed to pilot the use of videoconferencing in open centres. This is due to the fact that the Royal Decree on the functioning of the CGRS does not mention this among the competencies of the authority. The project can only continue once the Royal Decree is amended. |
EASO Asylum Report 2021 |
|
Belgium |
2022 |
Policy |
|
Reception of applicants for international protection |
Fedasil issued a new instruction on the forced and voluntary withdrawal of reception conditions for working applicants. |
EUAA Asylum Report 2023 |