This practical guide intends to assist case officers and decision-makers in the examination of applications for international protection and application of the legal criteria on who qualifies for international protection, referring to both refugee status and subsidiary protection.

The guide includes checklists, guidance and references to legislation and case law in order to support the case officer in assessing whether the individual applicant qualifies for international protection.

The practical guide, which is also available in html format, includes a decision tree that describes all the steps in the decision-making process.

The decision tree flow chart is available in poster format.

This guide is designed in a similar way to the Practical guide: Personal interview. It is intended to provide support for the daily work of case officers and addresses the challenging tasks related to evidence assessment:

• gathering information
• credibility assessment
• risk assessment.

A structured approach to evidence assessment, following the three steps above, is presented in checklists and brief guidance on every entry of the checklist. The guide further offers legal references, case law and a dedicated space for possible variations of national practice.

The guide also encloses a template, which can be used to apply the structured-evidence assessment method on individual cases.

Being the first practical tool developed within the EASO Quality Matrix process, this practical guide is designed to assist case officers across the EU and beyond in their daily work by providing a practical checklist and brief guidance in five stages relating to the conduct of the personal interview.

This includes preparation for the personal interview (Section 1), opening the interview and providing information (Section 2), conducting the interview (Section 3), including guidance regarding the substance of the application which needs to be explored during the interview (Section 4), and closing the interview and post-interview actions (Section 5).

The guidance provides hyperlinks to legal references which can be accessed directly for further consultation.

This practical guide aims to provide case officers with a framework for the examination of applications for international protection based on political opinion.

This practical guide aims to help case officers conduct fairer and more efficient interviews in view of the complexity and challenges posed by religion-based asylum claims.

The guidance provided seeks to improve case officers’ understanding of the concept of religion in the context of international protection and to support the creation of appropriate conditions for the personal interview. 

This practical guide aims at providing guidance to case officers when examining the application of cessation clauses and to policy officers as well when implementing national workflows in the context of the cessation process.

The tool is structured in two layers of content, which address the application of the cessation clauses in a comprehensive manner:

Guidance on the substance of the assessment of the cessation provisions: individual behaviour of the beneficiaries leading to cessation; change of circumstances in the country of nationality / habitual residence; exemptions to the application of cessation; legal consequences of cessation; special circumstances when examining cessation;

Guidance on the implementation of the cessation process in practice: workflows of the cessation process; procedural considerations during the implementation; checklists, points to consider and practical examples in the context of personal interviews on cessation, application of the burden of proof in cessation, legal analysis of cessation decisions.

The guide also reflects on the special circumstances when examining cessation such as on practical challenges encountered when communicating with beneficiaries and on the organisation of large-scale cessation exercises.

The aim of this tool is to provide guidance to case officers on the examination process and the special procedural rules for assessing subsequent applications. To this end, the tool is focusing on three main aspects:

• specific rules of procedure applied for the assessment of subsequent applications;
• interpretation and application of relevant concepts related to subsequent applications;
• exploration of the specific situations in which a subsequent application could be submitted.

This practical tool aims at providing guidance to case officers and decision makers on the internal protection alternative (IPA) and its application. The guide reflects on relevant case law, national practices and provides practical examples for when case officers explore and assess the IPA during all steps of the procedure, such as during the interview and decision-making.

The guide outlines the parameters that need to be taken into consideration by case officers when identifying a potential IPA location and when assessing the IPA criteria in order to decide on its application. This includes the examination of safety; travel and admittance; and the reasonableness to settle in the IPA location.

This practical guide is complemented by commonly encountered profiles of applicants and points to consider when case officers assess the IPA criteria, as well as with specific considerations regarding the application of IPA in relation to cessation clauses and subsequent applications.

This practical tool provides guidance to case officers on the practical use of country of origin information (COI) at different stages of the asylum procedure – when preparing and conducting the personal interview and when carrying out the credibility assessment and the risk assessment of the application for international protection. The practical guide is complemented with information about COI sources and practical tips for basic COI research.

The tool is structured in two layers, which can be used independently:

• guidance through the different parts of the procedure of examining the application for international protection highlighting the role of COI and its standards;
• a checklist of recommended steps during the procedure of examining the application for international protection related to the use of COI.

This practical tool aims to support Member States in applying the concept of membership of particular social group (MPSG) as one of the 1951 Geneva Convention grounds of persecution in the examination process of applications for international protection. This soft convergence tool provides guidance in applying the same legal criteria and common standards when determining who qualifies for international protection.
The guide provides a set of principles and their application, structured in four main parts:

• legal basis of the concept of MPSG;
• legal analysis of the MPSG definition;
• the nexus between MPSG and presence or absence of persecution;
• commonly encountered profiles for which MPSG might be considered.

This document was developed in the context of the COVID-19 emergency situation. The document focuses on alternative solutions for registration (lodging) of an application for international protection. It provides practical recommendations on how to introduce remote, online or IT elements into the registration process in order to render the overall process more efficient and better organised. The guidance has been developed as a result of thematic meetings held by the EASO Asylum Processes Network and builds on information provided by EU+ countries, good practices, as well as EASO practical tools. Furthermore, this document elaborates procedural safeguards and practical recommendations that asylum authorities may want to consider when facilitating the lodging of applications for international protection online/remotely.

This document was developed in the context of the COVID-19 emergency situation. The aim is to provide brief guidance on remote personal interviews based on good practices from across the EU+ countries and existing EASO guidance. Furthermore, this document elaborates procedural safeguards and practical recommendations that asylum authorities may want to consider when preparing and conducting a remote personal interview, including the following aspects:

• technical arrangements, security and confidentiality;
• practical arrangements prior, during and after the interview;
• legal considerations;
• interview techniques and quality-related consideration;
• vulnerability-related considerations.

The report gives an overview practices of EU+ countries’ asylum administrations related to the personal interview, evidence assessment and qualification, focusing on overall trends. The aim of the report is to give interested parties an insight in the practices of EU+ countries’ asylum administrations at a general, aggregated level.

This guidance is intended to provide support to EU+ countries in the implementation of key provisions of the Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33/EU), while ensuring an adequate standard of living for unaccompanied children that takes into account their special reception needs. It can be used at both policy and operational level as a framework for further development of reception standards at national level and as a tool to support reception authorities working with unaccompanied children in planning and in running of reception facilities and providing adequate care according to specific needs.

The standards and indicators laid down in this guidance address the specific needs of unaccompanied children in reception facilities, though the guidance may also be applicable for accompanied children.

The guidance is structured in nine sections providing respective standards, measurement indicators as well as good practice:

• information and representation
• identification of special reception needs of children
• allocation
• day-to-day care
• staff
• healthcare
• education
• food and clothing
• housing.

The tool is complemented by the IT app https://arc.euaa.europa.eu

This guidance aims to assist Member States’ reception authorities in their preparedness and ability to cope with situations of mass influx or unexpected events.

The tool provides detailed guidance on contingency planning to facilitate early action, manage future uncertainty and help anticipate and solve problems related to potentially high-influx situations.

The guidance is structured in 13 sections, complemented with checklists and following an integral approach to contingency planning.

These sections include:

• management and decision-making
• information management
• external coordination
• budget management and financial resources
• housing capacity
• resource management
• human resources
• minimum standards relating to reception conditions
• security/safety and prevention.

This guidance is intended to provide support to Member States in the implementation of the key provisions of the Reception Conditions Directive (2013/33/EU). It can be used at both policy and operational level as a framework for further development of reception standards at national level and as a tool to support reception authorities in planning and in running of reception facilities.

The guidance is structured in eight key sections, reflecting key areas of directive, providing respective standards, measurement indicators as well as good practice:

• housing
• food
• clothing and other non-food items
• daily expenses allowance
• healthcare
• provision of information and counselling
• identification, assessment and response to special needs
• staff training.

The tool is complemented by the IT app arc.easo.europa.eu.

EUAA practical tool on the design and management of modular reception centres

The publication aims to be a guide to relevant stakeholders (e.g., national, regional and local authorities, as well as civil society organisations) when designing and building new reception centres according to the agency’s standards and guidelines.

This IT tool provides a practical solution for EU+ countries as it allows authorities to conduct self-assessments of reception conditions at national level. It rests on the common reception standards and indicators outlined in the two EASO guidance documents on reception published in 2016 (general) and 2018 (unaccompanied children).

Available both as an app and as an offline software, the tool allows EU+ countries to collect, process and share data on performance of reception facilities.

Core technical functionalities of the tool include:

• assessment along with a check box of each relevant indicator with tips and guiding examples provided;
• report production including statistics, graphs and comments on the implementation of standards and indicators;
• voice recognition (EN) for easy recording of comments during an assessment.

Additional content is also available:

• operational tips for indicators with practical examples on how to assess a given indicator;
• assessment methodology including participatory approach and residents’ feedback (to be developed upon completion of the tool);
• a qualitative and quantitative reporting format.

Practical recommendations on the provision of emergency placement in private accommodation for persons displaced from Ukraine.

This public document provides recommendations on the provision of private accommodation to displaced persons from Ukraine.

This tool focuses on temporary protection.

It aims at assisting guardians appointed by Member States in supporting displaced children from Ukraine when registering for the temporary protection and exercising their rights.