Author
Throughout 2023, the support offered by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA)[1] to the Italian Asylum Authorities continued at different stages of the procedure.
Italy has received operational support by the EASO/EUAA since 2013. The 2022-2024 operational plan was amended twice, with the latest amendment in March 2024 to reflect the changes in the operational context in light of “the increased pressure on the asylum and reception systems”.[2] In December 2024, at the request of the Italian authorities, the EUAA and Italy agreed on an operational plan for 2025, with continued support in asylum procedures, reception and temporary protection.[3]
Throughout 2024, the EUAA deployed 352 experts in Italy,[4] mostly external experts (231) and temporary agency workers (89). The majority of the experts deployed were intermediate reception experts (59), intermediate asylum registration experts (42), intermediate asylum second instance support experts (30), asylum information provision expert officers (19), vulnerability expert officers (17), followed by other support staff (e.g., operations assistants, intermediate asylum quality assurance experts, asylum and/or reception intermediate legal experts, etc.).[5]
As of 11 December 2024, there were 233 EUAA experts present in Italy, mostly intermediate reception experts (56), intermediate asylum registration experts (31), and intermediate asylum second instance support expert (18).[6]
Application
According to Italian law, there is no formal timeframe for making an asylum application. The intention to make an asylum application may be expressed orally by the applicant in their language with the assistance of a linguistic-cultural mediator.[7] However, asylum seekers should make their application as soon as possible. Immigration legislation prescribes, as a rule, a deadline of 8 days from arrival in Italy for migrants to present themselves to the authorities.[8]
According to the law introduced by DL 145/2024, an asylum application submitted – without justified reasons – more than 90 days from the irregular entry in Italy or from the start of the period of irregular stay, is channelled into the accelerated procedure and does not give access to accommodation if the applicant does not provide justified reasons for the delay.[9]
The asylum application can be made either at the border police office or within the territory at the provincial Immigration Office (Ufficio immigrazione) of the Police (Questura), where fingerprinting and photographing (fotosegnalamento) are carried out. In case the asylum application is made at the border, the Border Police invites asylum applicants to present themselves at the Questura for formal registration. Police authorities cannot examine the merits of the asylum application. The law establishes that the lodging of the application should occur within 3 days from the expression of the will to apply – 6 days if the willingness is manifested at border – the time limit may be postponed up to 10 days in case of significant numbers.[10] In practice, however, these deadlines are rarely respected, and especially in big metropolitan areas such as Milan, Rome, and Naples, asylum applicants manage to lodge their applications only after some weeks or even a couple of months.
During the registration, the Questura asks the asylum applicant questions related to the Dublin Regulation and contacts the Dublin Unit of the Ministry of Interior to verify whether Italy is the Member State responsible for the examination of the asylum application. When there are doubts, the case is transmitted to the Dublin Unit and the person receives a permit that indicates “Dublin” or “richiesta asilo”. Upon renewal of the permit, if the Dublin unit concludes that Italy is responsible the person will receive the form to request an asylum permit. If the Dublin Unit outcome is negative, the person will be notified the Dublin Unit’s negative decision.
After the lodging (verbalizzazione) of the application, if no issues regarding the application of the Dublin Regulation arise, or once they are solved, the Questura sends the formal registration form and the documents concerning the asylum application to the Territorial Commissions or sub-Commissions for International Protection located throughout the national territory, the only authorities competent for the substantive asylum interview.[11] The asylum applicant is then notified by the Questura of the interview date before the Territorial Commission.
Regular procedure
According to the Procedure Decree,[12] a member of the Territorial Commission should interview the applicant within 30 days of having received the application, and the Commission should decide on its result in the 3 following working days.
The decision shall be taken following a panel discussion between all members of the Commission. Should the Territorial Commission be unable to take a decision in the time limit, or in case it finds itself in need of new elements, the examination procedure should be concluded within six months of the lodging of the application.
However, the Territorial Commission may extend the time limit for a period not exceeding a further nine months, where:
- complex issues of fact and/or law are involved;
- a large number of asylum applications are made simultaneously;
- the delay can clearly be attributed to the failure of the applicant to comply with their obligations of cooperation.
By way of exception, in duly justified circumstances, the Territorial Commission may further exceed this time limit by three months where necessary to ensure an adequate and complete examination of the application for international protection.[13] In the light of the different possibilities of extension, the asylum procedure may last for a maximum period of 18 months.
According to ASGI’s experience, due to the large number of simultaneous applications, the time limits are never respected in practice, and the asylum applicant is generally not informed about the authorities exceeding the deadlines.
Prioritised and accelerated procedures
The Procedure Decree provides for an accelerated procedure and a prioritised procedure. The President of the Territorial Commission identifies the cases under the prioritised or accelerated procedure.[14]
Border procedure
With the 2018 reform, confirmed by the 2020 reform, the border procedure was established for applicants making an asylum application directly at the border or in transit areas, after having been apprehended for having evaded or attempting to evade border controls. In this case, the entire procedure can be carried out directly at the border or in the transit area.[15]
The reform introduced by L. 50 of 5 May 2023, which converted with amendments the DL 20/2023, allowed the authorities to carry out the border procedure for people coming from safe countries of origin making the application at the border or transit areas.[16]
People subject to the border procedure rescued by Italian ships in international waters were also subject from October 2024 to the procedure set out by the agreement between Italy and Albania according to which they were directly transferred to the hotspot and first accommodation centres under Italian jurisdiction created in Albania.[17]
Border and transit areas for the accelerated examination of asylum applications were identified by ministerial decree of 5 August 2019,[18] and include areas in the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia (Balkan border); the provinces of Crotone, Cosenza, Matera, Lecce, Brindisi (southern coastal area); two areas in Sicily, one including the Provinces of Caltanissetta, Ragusa, Syracuse, Catania, Messina, the other including Trapani and Agrigento Provinces; and the Metropolitan city area of Cagliari (South Sardinia). The decree also instituted sections of the territorial commissions in charge to operate in these areas.
The list of safe countries has been expanded to include additional countries through a Ministerial Decree of 7 May 2024. The additional countries included are Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Egypt, Peru and Sri Lanka.[19]
However, after the CJEU decision issued on 4 October 2024,[20] clarifying that no countries with territorial exclusions could be kept on the list, through decree law 158/2024 a new safe countries of origin list was included directly in the Procedure Decree (Article 2 bis), deleting Colombia, Nigeria and Cameroon. Later, L. 187/2024, implementing DL 145/2024 and repealing DL 158/2024, confirmed the introduction of the new list in Article 2 bis of the Procedure Decree.
Appeal
Asylum applicants can appeal a negative decision issued by the Territorial Commission within 30 days before the competent Civil Court. Following Decree Law 13/2017, there are specialised court sections competent for examining asylum appeals.
In case of a negative decision on the merits, the applicant is recognized the right to stay on the national territory pending the appeal.
Applicants placed in detention facilities and applicants whose application is examined under the accelerated procedure, on the basis of Article 28-bis of the Procedure Decree, have only 15 days or 7 days to lodge an appeal,[21] and they can be recognized the right to stay pending the appeal only upon a separate request to the court.
In case the suspensive effect is denied, an appeal can be submitted, within 5 days, to the Civil Court of Appeal, which should then decide whether to grant suspensive effect within 10 days. The filing of a complaint does not suspend the procedure.[22]
After the entry into force of Decree Law 13/2017, the final decision of the civil court (first appeal) can only be challenged in law before the Court of Cassation (final appeal) within 30 days. Before the reform, the decision of the civil court could also be appealed in fact and law in front of the Court of Appeal, within 30 days of the notification of the decision.
Even if, according to rules introduced in 2017, proceedings before the civil courts should last a maximum of 4 months,[23] and 6 months before the Court of Cassation, the actual duration largely exceeds these terms, in some cases even tenfold.[24]
Asylum and return
In case a negative decision is notified to an asylum applicant, it is linked to a return decision notified together with the rejection but, in most cases, rejected asylum seekers have the right to submit an appeal within 15 or 30 days and, when the appeal does not have automatic suspensive effect, they have the right to stay until the Court issues a decision on the suspension. After that, people are requested to provide evidence of having submitted an appeal and that the suspensive request was accepted.
[1] It should be noted that Regulation 2021/2023 entered into force on 19 January 2022, transforming EASO into the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
[2] EUAA, Operational Plan 2022-2024 agreed by the European Union Agency for Asylum and Italy – Amendment 2, March 2024, available here.
[3] EUAA, Operational Plan 2025 agreed by the European Union Agency for Asylum and Italy, December 2025, available here.
[4] EUAA personnel numbers do not include deployed interpreters by the EUAA in support of asylum and reception activities.
[5] Information provided by the EUAA, 14 March 2025. In the figures above, the same persons may have been included under different profiles, if a change of profile took place in the course of 2024.
[6] Information provided by the EUAA, 14 March 2025.
[7] Article 3(1) PD 21/2015.
[8] Article 3(2) PD 21/2015.
[9] Article 15- quinquies (1) DL 145/2025 converted into L. 187/2024.
[10] Art. 26 Procedure Decree.
[11] Article 4 Procedure Decree, as amended by LD 220/2017.
[12] Article 27 Procedure Decree.
[13] Article 27 Procedure Decree.
[14] Article 28(1) Procedure Decree.
[15] Article 28-bis(2) (b)) Procedure Decree, as amended by Decree Law 130/2020 and L 173/2020
[16] Article 28 bis (b bis) introduced by L. 50/2023.
[17] Article 3(2) L. 14/2024 ratifying the agreement taken by the Italian and Albanian Government, available at: bit.ly/44vBGfr.
[18] Available at: https://bit.ly/3CJxWcm.
[19] Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Decree, 7 May 2024, available at: https://acesse.dev/8L1OU.
[20] CJEU, C-406/22 decision of 4 October 2024.
[21] Article 35 bis Procedure Decree as amended by DL 145/2024 converted into L. 187/2024.
[22] Article 35 bis (4 bis) Procedure Decree introduced by Article 17 DL 145/2024.
[23] Article 35 bis (13) (14) (15) Procedure Decree.
[24] See, in this sense and for an analysis of the functioning of the specialised court sections, L. Perilli, Le sezioni specializzate in materia di immigrazione a cinque anni dalla loro istituzione. Un’indagine sul campo, in Diritto Immigrazione e Cittadinanza, n. 1/2023, available in Italian at: https://bit.ly/43fq6TS.