Author
General (scope, grounds for accelerated procedures, timelimits)
Under Article 75(1) of the Asylum Act, the grounds for assessing an asylum claim into an accelerated procedure are:
- Manifestly unfounded applications;
- Asylum applications of persons who, through their activity or membership of a particular group, pose a threat to national security or public order of Romania;
- Asylum applications of persons coming from a Safe Country of Origin.
An asylum application is considered manifestly unfounded if the applicant:[1]
- Has no well-founded fear of being persecuted or exposure to serious risk in the country of origin as he or she:
Has not claimed any fear of persecution or risk of serious harm;
Has not provided data or information to support a fear of persecution or serious risk, or his or her statements do not contain circumstantial or personal details;
Clearly lacks credibility, meaning that his or her statements are incoherent, contradictory or flagrantly inconsistent with the situation in his or her country of origin;
- Has misled the authorities or has submitted the application in bad faith by:
Filing an asylum application with a false identity or presenting false or falsified documents as authentic;
Deliberately submitting false information after the asylum application has been lodged;
Destroying, damaging or disposing of travel documents or a relevant document for his or her application, either to establish a false identity for the purpose of seeking and granting refugee status, or to obstruct the assessment of his or her claim;
Deliberately concealing previous asylum applications in one or more countries, especially when he or she used a false identity;
Making an asylum application for the obvious aim of preventing the enforcement of return, extradition or removal proceedings, after having been given the opportunity to make an asylum application;
Entering the territory of Romania unlawfully or prolonging his or her stay unlawfully and, without good reason, not presenting him or herself to the authorities, or not lodging the application as soon as possible given the circumstances of his or her entry.
According to stakeholders in Galaţi, Rădăuţi, Şomcuta, Mare and Giurgiu, most of the cases examined in the accelerated procedure are manifestly unfounded asylum applications. In practice, manifestly unfounded asylum applications are predominantly applications made by economic migrants (Şomcuta Mare, Galaţi, Rădăuţi), or applicants who lack credibility (Giurgiu).
Şomcuta Mare: There were many cases assessed in accelerated procedures in 2021. Asylum seekers in these cases were from Pakistan, Algeria, Tunisia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Iran, Eritreea, Guineea, Egypt, Lybia, but also from Afghanistan. Around 16 claims made by Afghan nationals had been assessed in an accelerated procedure as of August 2021. The JRS representative reported also that an Afghan asylum seeker was assessed in an accelerated procedure in August 2021, however he was granted subsidiary protection by the court. The JRS representative reported that she lodged more appeals against decisions issued in the accelerated procedure than in the regular procedure.
Timișoara: According to the director of the Regional Centre of Timișoara, 1500 asylum applications made by nationals of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan were assessed in an accelerated procedure in 2021 (the Afghan applications were from the beginning of 2021). This is a considerable increase compared to last year when 260-270 applications were reported.
The director of Timisoara centre said that in general they retain cases that have a high chance to be processed in accelerated procedure, whilst others are transferred to other centres, in order to avoid overcrowding. All the appeals submitted by them were dismissed.
Rădăuţi: asylum applications made by nationals of Iraq, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan (up until August 2021), Somalia (only men) were assessed in accelerated procedures. They invoked economic reasons, but also the insecurity in their country of origin.
Galaţi: the legal counsellor reported a few cases in 2021 (from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, India).
Bucharest: According to the JRS representative, most of the asylum applications assessed in the accelerated procedure were made by Algerian and Moroccan nationals in the first months of 2021. Also the majority of applications made by Afghan nationals at the beginning of 2021 were processed in an accelerated procedure. The director of Vasile Stolnicu also confirmend that Afghan nationals were assessed in an accelerated procedure.
Giurgiu: According to the director of the centre 136 asylum claims were assessed under the accelerated procedure due to economic reasons being invoked by applicants from Algeria, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Pakistan.
The responsible authority for taking decisions at first instance on asylum applications in the accelerated procedure is IGI-DAI.
The accelerated procedure may be triggered during the regular procedure at the date when the case officer determines the existence of one of the grounds for applying an accelerated procedure.[2]Article 79 of the Asylum Act provides that after the interview and the assessment of the reasons invoked in support of the asylum application, a decision should be issued within 3 days from the start of the accelerated procedure. Therefore, the trigger for the accelerated procedure may not coincide with the date of the personal interview. However, cases where the accelerated procedure is triggered after the interview are very rare.
IGI-DAI reported 1968 applications were assessed under the accelerated procedure in 2021, more than double compared to 2020 when 885 were reported, up from 315 in 2019, 167 in 2018 and 382 in 2017.[3]
Personal interview
The Asylum Act requires a personal interview of asylum seekers in the accelerated procedure. Article 79 of the Asylum Act clearly states that a decision is made after an interview and after examination of the reasons invoked by the applicant. In practice, the personal interview is always conducted by IGI-DAI.
The same rules as in the Regular Procedure apply.
Appeal
The law provides for the appeal against a negative decision in the accelerated procedure, which must be submitted within 7 days from the notification of the decision. If the appeal is filed within the deadline, it has automatic suspensive effect.[4]
There were no problems reported in relation to lodging an appeal in the accelerated procedure, as the deadline for submitting an appeal against a negative decision in the accelerated procedure was increased from 2 days to 7 days with the 2015 reform of the Asylum Act.
Legal assistance
The law provides for access to free legal assistance for asylum seekers during the accelerated procedure in the same conditions as the asylum seekers subject to the Regular Procedure. However, if asylum seekers are in detention in one of the two detention centres (Arad and Otopeni), there is no permanent access to legal counselling.
Whereas prior to 2015 the Aliens Ordinance required the release of foreigners from detention as soon as a first application for international protection was lodged, the Aliens Act now prescribes that an asylum seeker is only released when he or she is granted access to the regular procedure (see Detention of Asylum Seekers and Legal assistance for review of detention).
[1] Article 76 Asylum Act.
[2] Article 78 Asylum Act.
[3] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 14 February 2018, 5 March 2019, 20 February 2020, 16 February 2021, 11 March 2022.
[4] Article 80(1) Asylum Act.