Reception Conditions

From March 2017 until 21 May 2020 the main form of reception had been detention, carried out in the transit zones. Following the FMS and Others judgment,[1] open reception centres gained back their role for a short period of time, when all the 280 asylum seekers detained in transit zones were transferred to one of the open reception facilities. However, by the end of July the number of residents in Vámosszabadi and Balassagyarmat had significantly decreased. After the entry into force of the new “Embassy procedure”, only 4 new applicants (one family) entered Hungary in 2020, and were subsequently placed in Vámosszabadi. According to the NDGAP, on 31 December 2021 there were no asylum seekers in Vámosszabadi and only 5 asylum seekers in Balassagyarmat.

Afghan evacuees rescued by the Hungarian Defense Forces were also accommodated in the reception centres of Vámosszabadi and Balassagyarmat leading to the overcrowding of the facilities. Nevertheless, since they were directed to a residence permit procedure, they were not registered as asylum seekers and therefore do not appear in the asylum statistics. Their residence in the reception centres was temporary, lasting for a short period between the end of August and the end of October 2021.

All in all, due to the low number of asylum seekers, the role of open reception centres remained limited in the Hungarian asylum system.

[1]  CJEU, Joined Cases C-924/19 PPU and C-925/19 PPU, FMS and Others v Országos Idegenrendészeti Főigazgatóság Dél-alföldi Regionális Igazgatóság and Országos Idegenrendészeti Főigazgatóság, 14 May 2020.