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The concept of “first country of asylum” is established in Article 4a AsylG. An application will be rejected as inadmissible, if the applicant has found protection in an EEA country state or Switzerland and asylum or subsidiary protection status was granted.
A law amendment that entered into force on 1 September 2018 deleted the 3 months deadline for validity of the inadmissibility decision if the person cannot be deported. As a consequence, the inadmissibility decision does no longer cease to be valid and deportation can still be undertaken at a later date.
Rejections for existing protection in another EU state are also issued regularly by the BFA concerning countries, see Suspension of returns of beneficiaries of protection in another Member State.
In a case ruled by the Federal Administrative Court in 2015, the rejection of the application as inadmissible of a Chechen refugee who was registered in Azerbaijan as “person of concern” to UNHCR was considered as insufficient. The court did not adequately assess whether the status is similar to the status of a recognised refugee nor whether the protection from refoulement was ensured.[1]
As mentioned in Safe Third Country, inadmissibility may be ordered when a person has obtained status in another EU Member State.
[1] BVwG, Decision L518 2109232-1, 6 August 2015, available at: http://bit.ly/2jUv9oc.