Registration of the asylum application

Author

ASGI Visit Website

The Procedures Decree provides that applications for international protection are made by non-EU citizens on the territory of the State, including at the border and in transit zones, and in the territorial waters.^[1]

The Decree also provides for training for police authorities appropriate to their tasks and responsibilities.^[2]

Making and registering the application (fotosegnalamento)

Under the Procedures Decree,^[3] the asylum claim can be made either at the Border Police upon arrival or at the Immigration Office (Ufficio Immigrazione) of the Police (Questura), if the applicant is already on the territory. The intention to seek international protection may be expressed orally or in writing by the person concerned in their own language with the help of a cultural mediator.^[4]

PD 21/2015 provides that asylum seekers who express their wish to apply for international protection before Border Police authorities have to be requested to approach the competent Questura within 8 working days. Failure to comply with the 8-working-day time limit without justification, results in deeming the persons as illegally staying on the territory.^[5] However, there is no provision for a time limit to make an asylum application before the Questura when the applicant is already on the territory.

The law does not foresee any financial support for taking public transport to the competent Questura. In practice, NGOs working on the borders provide the train ticket for that journey on the basis of a specific agreement with the competent Prefecture. However, this support is not always guaranteed.

The procedure for the initial registration of the asylum application is the same at the border and at the Questura. The first step is the identification and registration process, which entails fingerprinting and photographing that can be carried out either at the border police or at the Questura. This procedure is called “fotosegnalamento”.

The Procedure Decree provides that the registration of the application shall be carried out within 3 working days from the expression of the intention to seek protection or within 6 working days in case the applicant has expressed such willingness before Border Police authorities. That time limit is extended to 10 working days in presence of a significant number of asylum applications due to consistent and tight arrivals of asylum seekers.^[6]

Upon completion of the fotosegnalamento, the person receives an invitation (invito) to reappear before the Questura with a view to lodging the asylum application.

DL 133/2023 introduced a hypothesis of cancellation of the asylum request, by introducing Article 6 (3 bis) to the Procedure Decree, according to which: in the event that asylum applicants do not present themselves at the police station for the verification of the identity declared and the formalisation of the asylum application, the previous expression of the will to seek asylum does not constitute an asylum application and the asylum procedure is not considered initiated.^[7]

Lodging the application (verbalizzazione)

Fotosegnalamento is followed by a second step, consisting in the formal registration of the asylum application, which is carried out exclusively at the Questura within the national territory. The EUAA has also provided support in this process since 2017.

The formal registration of the application (verbalizzazione or formalizzazione) is conducted through the “C3” form (Modello C3).^[8] The form is completed with the basic information regarding the applicant’s personal history, the journey to reach Italy and the reasons for fleeing from the country of origin. This form is signed by the asylum seeker and sent to the Territorial Commission, before the interview. Asylum seekers shall receive a copy of the C3 and copies of all other documents submitted to the police authorities.

With the completion of the C3, the formal stage of applying for international protection is concluded. The “fotosegnalamento” and the lodging of the international protection application do not always take place at the same time, especially in big cities, due to the high number of asylum application and to the shortage of police staff. In practice, the formal registration might take place weeks after the date the asylum seeker made the asylum application. This delay created and still creates difficulties for asylum seekers who, in the meantime, might not have access to the reception system and the national health system, with the exception of emergency health care.

Since 2017, the EUAA supports the Questure in the verbalizzazione process.

In 2023, the number of registrations carried out by the EUAA in Italy doubled compared to 2022, with 20,197 applicants for international protection registered. Of these, 74% related to the top 10 citizenships of applicants, mainly from Bangladesh (3,088), Egypt (2,679), Peru (2,263), Pakistan (1,592), Ivory Coast (1,552) and Burkina Faso (1,061).^[9]

The Reception Decree provides for the issuance of a “residence permit for asylum seekers” (permesso di soggiorno per richiesta asilo), valid for 6 months, renewable.^[10]

Access to the procedure in practice

Reports of denial of access to the asylum procedure recorded by ASGI continued in the last three years. However, from the early months of 2022 and in 2023, the situation reached unprecedented critical levels.

Where they prevent access to the procedure, Questure do not issue any document attesting the intention of the persons concerned to seek asylum. This exposes them to risks of arbitrary arrest and deportation.

This problem mainly affects people who reach Questure autonomously, after entering in Italy by land or after independent disembarkations or when applying for asylum after staying on the national territory.

On 8 February 2024 the Ministry of Interior decided to stipulate an agreement with the UNHCR in order to intervene on the timing of access to the asylum procedure and the reduction of the backlog relating to the number of applications to formalise.[11]

In parallel, in recent years, this problem also affected people who disembarked, as they had to face the so-called hotspot procedure, being channelled to the asylum procedure or to a deportation procedure (being sent to a CPR) mainly depending on their nationality and on the base of a “foglio notizie” not translated in their language and fulfilled without an effective assistance from cultural mediators. This still happened in 2023, and such practices were still reported mainly concerning Tunisian and Moroccan nationals.

In cases where, once in CPR, people managed to submit an asylum application, this was, with few exceptions, considered instrumental in avoiding repatriation, and therefore not useful at avoiding detention (see detention).

In 2020, the Court of Cassation reaffirmed the close connection between compliance with information obligations and the effectiveness of the right of access to the asylum procedure, both denied by the value attributed to the so-called “foglio notizie” or second “foglio notizie”, which are often submitted to foreign citizens who arrive at the border without a prior or contextual explanation on the meaning of their signature.^[12] (See Information at the border and in detention).

In early 2024, the Court of Cassation expressed an important principle to better stress the importance of the information obligations as a guarantee of access and respect of the asylum rights. With a decision issued on 5 March 2024 the Court affirmed that “Pursuant to art. 10 ter TUI, complete and effective information on the international protection procedure must be ensured for all foreigners brought for rescue and first aid needs at the hotspots, (..) this obligation also exists in the case in which the foreigner has not expressed the need to request international protection, given that silence or any declaration incompatible with the desire to request it, which must in any case be clearly expressed and not in ambiguous formulas, cannot take on significance if it does not appear that the person has been fully informed in advance.” Also, it pointed out that it is not sufficient, in order to consider the fulfilment of the information obligation, that the rejection or detention decree generally indicates that the subject has been fully informed, if nothing appears on this matter from the foglio notizie or from other documents, or evidence offered by the administration; and in particular if nothing is apparent regarding the times and methods with which the information was administered, with specific regard to the language used, the presence of an interpreter or cultural mediator and this in order to allow a verification of the comprehensibility of the information provided.^[13]

On 13 July 2023, the Supreme Court^[14] once again intervened on the timing of the registration of the asylum application stating that in compliance with the provisions of the art. 6, of Directive 2013/32/EU, the application for international protection must be registered within the terms established therein (three or six days depending on the office) and the ten-day extension of the term, provided for by national legislation (last period of ‘art. 26, paragraph 2-bis, Legislative Decree 25/2008, introduced by the national legislator with Legislative Decree 142/2015) must be applied only in the case of a high and proven number of applications following consistent and close arrivals.

As for the eastern border, the practice of readmissions to Slovenia was suspended but re-started by November 2022, even if involving a limited number of individuals who declared not wishing to seek asylum in Italy. In these cases, often Slovenia refused to apply the readmission agreement and sent back people to Italy. On 20 October 2023, Italy started border controls at the border with Slovenia and announced, as of March 2024, to have impeded access of 1,500 people, but it not known to which category of people was refused the possibility to entry.

As previously mentioned, readmissions of asylum seekers were recorded also at Adriatic ports.

In 2023 as in 2022, there were numerous reports of cases in which access to the asylum procedure was hindered on even on national territory, and practices widely differed among different areas of the territory.

Due to the problems of registering the asylum application in Milan, several associations together with ASGI sent a letter to UNHCR.[15]

Similarly, the high number affecting the Questura of Turin, including with regard to the impossibility to formalize the asylum applications, lead ASGI to address the Police with a formal letter,[16] which was then followed by a very participated public protest.[17] Several months after the demonstration, no substantive change in the rules for submitting asylum applications has been registered.

Between May and June 2023, ASGI carried out monitoring through data collected by its members on 55 of the 107 Italian provinces.[18] The outcome was that in 40 cities, asylum seekers cannot access the asylum procedure without an official address. In the period considered this was happening in:

In other Questure, access to asylum was not allowed without a passport (3 cities) or because a limited number of new asylum requests are allowed every day (in 6 cities: they vary from 5 to a maximum of 15 people per day).

In 24 Questure, the period between the date of registration of the asylum application and formalisation lasts less than 6 months, in 18 Questure it takes more than 6 months and in 3 Questure more than a year.

The Civil Court of Rome, on 31 July 2023, once again stated that “the Administration does not enjoy full discretionary power, but it is obliged to provide the necessary means to register the application within the times prescribed by the law, moreover, since the pandemic emergency which led to first eliminating and then significantly limiting access to offices has long been overcome”.^[19]

On 28 March 2023, the Civil Court of Milan upheld the urgent appeal submitted by an Egyptian asylum seeker who had tried several times to access the Questura and finally had expressed his intention to seek asylum through a certified mail sent by his lawyer. The Court ordered Questura to register his intention to seek asylum.^[20] As of April 2023 the Questura of Milan decided to allow access to the asylum procedure through a telematic system (Prenotafacile) which, however, requires the possession of a passport or of an identification document to be used.^[21] On 9 May 2023, the Civil Court of Milan upheld the urgent appeal submitted by another Egyptian asylum seeker ordering Questura to process his asylum request evaluating the inadequacy of the Prenofacile system as it was actually not allowing people to request an appointment.^[22]

Later, Questura decided to allow those who do not have passport to book an appointment through some organisations which declared to be available, such as ACLI.

The Questure of Sassari and Siracusa declared asking people to submit legalised documents to prove the family bond among parents and children who are, otherwise, prevented from applying.

Regarding the requests of evidence of family bonds, in 2022 some Questure – such as those of Caserta and Rome – started, as reported to ASGI, to ask for a DNA test to prove the family bond.

As reported to ASGI, the Questura of Bologna refused to formalise an asylum request of a family lacking family documents.

The Civil Court of Rome, with a decision of 31 March 2023, ordered the immediate access to the asylum procedure of a Georgian citizen, deeming the new practice established in recent weeks by the Questura of Rome of setting appointments for the formalisation of the application months after the request did not comply with regulatory provisions.^[23]

Moreover, the Civil Court of Trieste ordered, on 24 March 2023, to the Questura of Udine, to register within 30 days the international protection request of a Nigerian woman, 62 aged, who, since October 2022, was trying to obtain access to the asylum procedure but had only obtained an expulsion order.^[24]

Also, with an important decision, the Civil Court of Bologna, on 18 January 2023, recognised the right to access the procedure to a group of asylum seekers who, helped by the CIAC association, since August 2022 were denied access to the procedure and accommodation lacking a domicile.^[25]

On 8 April 2024, the report “Attendere prego” from the International Rescue Committee Italy (IRC) Le Carbet, Mutuo Soccorso Milano, Naga ASGI and Intersos, was published confirming the difficulty in accessing the procedure existing in Milan and in others Italian provinces.[26]

Access to the procedure from detention

In practice, the possibility of accessing the asylum procedure inside a pre-removal detention centre (CPR) results limited due to the lack of appropriate legal information and assistance, and to administrative obstacles. In fact, according to the Reception Decree, people are informed about the possibility to seek international protection by the managing body of the centre.^[27]

As recorded by ASGI, in 2023, as in previous years, in many cases the detained, not informed of the possibility and the way to ask for asylum, could not express this will even before the Judge of the Peace (Giudice di Pace) at the hearing to validate the detention. Only in some cases they were able to submit the asylum request thanks to their lawyers after the detention order had been issued. This was possible, however, mainly in the CPRs, such as that of Gradisca, where mobiles are not seized.

Regarding the possibility to apply for asylum by applicants serving prison terms, ASGI recorded ample difficulties in recent years (see chapter on Detention of asylum seekers).

On 14 October 2022, the Civil Court of Turin accepted the appeal lodged by an asylum seeker from Morocco who had obtained access to the asylum procedure just a few days before the end of his prison sentence. The Territorial Commission applied an accelerated procedure and evaluated the asylum request to be manifestly unfounded. Judging on the appeal presented by the applicant, the Court of Turin established that the applicant should be granted special protection, due to his long stay in Italy and to the family ties created in the country.^[28]

^[1] Article 1 Procedure Decree, as amended by the Reception Decree.

^[2] Article 10(1-bis) Procedure Decree, as amended by the Reception Decree.

^[3] Article 6 Procedure Decree.

^[4] Article 3(1) PD 21/2015.

^[5] Article 3(2) PD 21/2015.

^[6] Article 26(2-bis) Procedure Decree, as amended by the Reception Decree.

^[7] Article 6 (3 bis) Procedure Decree introduced by DL 133/2023 converted with amendments by L 176/2023.

^[8] Verbale delle dichiarazioni degli stranieri che chiedono in Italia il riconoscimento dello status di rifugiato ai sensi della Convenzione di Ginevra, available in Italian at: https://bit.ly/2UWOLx2.

^[9] Information provided by the EUAA, 26 February 2024.

^[10] Article 4(1) Reception Decree.

[11] Ministry of Interior note signed on 8 February 2024 which was reported to ASGI

^[12] Court of Cassation, decision no. 18189/2020 dd. 25.6.2020.

^[13] Court of Cassation, decision no. 5797 of 5 March 2024.

[14] Court of Cassation, order of. 13.7.2023 n. 20028, n. 20070, available at https://l1nq.com/bJv7R.

[15] See https://l1nq.com/x7bfb.

[16] See Asgi, Gravi violazioni di legge e inefficienze dell’Ufficio immigrazione della Questura di Torino 3 March 2023, available at https://acesse.dev/u0aPT.

[17] See ASGI,  20 aprile 2023 – Presidio davanti alla Questura di Torino contro le prassi illegittime verso gli stranieri available at https://l1nq.com/MmHs2.

[18] See ASGI “ Mappatura delle prassi illegittime delle questure italiane Lo studio pilota di ASGI” report published on 15 April 2024, available  in Italian at https://encr.pw/nu9AJ.

^[19] Civil Court of Rome, decision of 31 July 2023.

^[20] Civil Court of Milan, decision of 28 March 2023.

^[21] Information provided by the Questura available at: bit.ly/42QXP63.

^[22] Civil Court of Milan, decision of 9 May 2023.

^[23] Civil Court of Rome, Decision of 31 March 2023

^[24] Civil Court of Trieste, Decision of 24 March 2023

^[25] See Meltingpot, I richiedenti asilo hanno diritto a documenti e accoglienza, Hanuary 2023, available at bit.ly/42MnRad.

[26] See the report  “Attendere Prego”, 8 April 2024, gli ostacoli al riconoscimento della protezione internazionale in Italia, available at https://acesse.dev/afrI0.

^[27] Article 6(4) Reception Decree.

^[28] Civil Court of Turin, decision of 14 October 2022.