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 significance for a short period of time when all the 280 asylum seekers had been 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. Additionally, under the new “Embassy procedure” only 4 new applicants (one family) entered Hungary, who were subsequently placed in Vámosszabadi. According to the NDGAP, on 31 December 2020 there were altogether 4 asylum seekers in Vámosszabadi and 2 asylum seekers in Balassagyarmat. Thus, similarly to 2019 and 2018, the role of open reception centres, except for two months after the closure of the transit zones, remained limited in the asylum system of Hungary.

[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.