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Special Accommodation Closed Areas
Before the recast Reception Conditions Directive, Romania only detained third country nationals subject to removal. An asylum detention regime was established following the transposition of the Directive, taking the form of a specially designed closed place i.e. locked rooms in each Regional Centre, except Giurgiu.
Detention in a specially designed closed space is ordered in writing, for a period of 30 days, by an order motivated in fact and in law by the designated prosecutor within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Court of Appeal territorially competent for the area where the Regional Centre is located, upon a motivated request by IGI.[1]
Based on the information provided by IGI-DAI, a distinction must be made taking in consideration the following aspects:
- The Regional Centres for Procedures and Accommodation of Asylum Seekers have an open regime; however, they may have certain places (e.g. rooms) where an asylum seeker could be held due to specific situations (e.g., national security reason). The following information was provided by IGI-DAI for the year 2023 in terms of closed spaces and is still valid for 2024:[2] there are such spaces in the centres in Bucharest, Rădăuţi, Maramureș, Timișoara, Galati. There appears to be no such rooms in the centre in Giurgiu. IGI-DAI stated that in 2023 no asylum seekers were held in these closed rooms/places within accommodation centres, which normally have an open regime. In 2024, IGI-DAI did not provide any response regarding whether asylum seekers were held in the closed spaces within reception centres, which normally operate under an open regime.
- The Public Custody Centres in Otopeni and Arad have a closed regime.
According to the information provided by IGI-DAI, the regional centres have a total capacity of 166 places in specially arranged closed spaces (see Places of detention), with the specification that the placement of persons in closed spaces is done only for the situations and within the limits expressly provided by law (e.g. national security reasons). In 2023 there were no cases of asylum seekers being held in closed regime in the regional centres.[3]
Public custody centres
The 2015 reform also amended the provisions of the Aliens Ordinance regarding the situation of foreigners who lodge an asylum application from detention. 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 Ordinance now prescribes that an asylum seeker is only released when they are granted access to the regular procedure in Romania.
The law defines the measure of taking a person into “public custody” as a temporary restriction of the freedom of movement on the territory of Romania, ordered against foreigners in order to accomplish all the necessary steps for removal or transfer under the Dublin Regulation under escort.[4] In practice, however, it constitutes a measure of deprivation of liberty.
There are 2 detention centres, known as Centres for Accommodation of Foreigners Taken into Public Custody (Centrul de Cazare a Străinilor luaţi în Custodie Publică), located in Otopeni, near Bucharest, and Arad, near Timișoara. The centres are managed by IGI and are specially designed for the temporary accommodation of foreigners taken into public custody.[5]
Detention (“public custody”) is ordered in writing by an order, justified in law and in fact by the designated prosecutor within the Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Court of Appeal of Bucharest, upon a motivated request by IGI.[6]
In most cases, asylum seekers are not detained. The main categories of asylum seekers detained are those who have applied for asylum from detention and whose application has been assessed in the accelerated procedure.
During 2022, 110 asylum applications were made from public custody centres, 92 in Arad and 18 in Otopeni.[7] In 2022 a total of 936 foreigners were detained in the public custody centres, compared to 1,327 in 2021, 1,241 in 2020 and 377 in 2019, of whom 589 persons were detained in Otopeni and 446 in Arad.
In 2023, a total of 1,316 foreign nationals were detained in the public custody centres (Arad and Otopeni), according with the information provided by IGI-DAI[8] and the Public Custody Centre of Arad.[9] 993 third-country nationals were detained in the Arad centre. Out of them, there were 37 women and 1 person with disabilities.
In 2024, a total of 1,043 foreign nationals were detained in the public custody centres (Arad and Otopeni[10]), according to the information provided by IGI-DAI and the Public Custody Centre of Arad. In 2024 regarding the Accommodation Centre for Foreigners Taken into Public Custody in Arad, the available data covers only the first 11 months of 2024.[11]
Arad: Arad Centre has a capacity of 160 places for foreigners held in public custody. In 2023, according to the information provided by the Public Custody Centre of Arad, 41 foreigners detained in the Arad centre submitted asylum applications during their detention there. Their countries of origin were: Guinea, Sudan, Pakistan, India, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Russia Federation, Tunisia, Senegal and Sri Lanka. During a visit conducted by the AIDA expert to the Public Custody Centre of Arad on 16 March 2023, there were 32 foreigners, all men, in detention out of whom two were asylum seekers from Pakistan and Guinea. According to the representative of Arad, a total number of 92 asylum applications were made in Arad, out of which 33 were granted access to the regular procedure. In addition, 26 subsequent applications were made, out of which only five were granted access to the regular procedure. The majority of applicants were Turkish nationals. However, the Director of Timișoara Centre reported that 84 asylum applications were made in 2022 in Arad, out of which only 16 were assessed in the regular procedure. According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI), in 2024, approximately 600 foreign nationals were placed in the Arad Accommodation Center for Foreigners Taken into Public Custody by immigration police, pending the completion of escort removal procedures. Between 1 January and 30 November 2024, a total of 584 foreigners were taken into public custody and accommodated in the Arad centre. Among the individuals for whom the public custody measure was ordered, 118 were from Bangladesh, 115 from Nepal, 100 from Sri Lanka, and 73 from Pakistan, while the rest came from other countries such as Ethiopia, India, Egypt, Vietnam, Morocco, Syria, etc.[12]
Otopeni: The Otopeni Centre has a capacity of 114 places for foreigners held in public custody. According to the director of the Otopeni Public Custody Centre, 589 persons were detained in Otopeni in 2022. The majority of detainees were from India (106) and Pakistan (83). 18 first time asylum applications were made in 2022.[13] No statistics on the number of migrants who lodged a subsequent application were provided, nor the number of asylum seekers who were granted access to the regular procedure. For the year 2023, IGI-DAI did not provide statistics about the foreigners who submitted asylum applications. In 2024, the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) placed 443 foreign nationals in public custody at the Otopeni Accommodation Center,[14] but did not provide statistics on those who submitted asylum applications. In 2024, immigration police officers brought 443 foreigners into the Otopeni Public Custody Accommodation Centre, pending the completion of their removal procedures under escort. Most of them came from Nepal – 102, Syria – 50, Pakistan – 44, Bangladesh – 28, Sri Lanka – 32 and Ethiopia – 25, but also from other countries such as Turkey, Congo, Guinea, Cameroon, Algeria or Burkina Faso.[15]
The law prescribes a deadline of 3 days for IGI-DAI to assess the asylum application of an applicant who is in detention and to issue a motivated decision.[16] Therefore, in these cases the procedure is rapidly conducted. Asylum seekers cannot prepare for the personal interview, as they have no time to contact an attorney or a legal counsellor in order to be counselled or assisted at the interview.
According to the JRS representative, many of the asylum seekers in Arad detention centre were relying on information received from the other detainees, saying that the legal counsellor from Timișoara is not providing legal counselling anymore to asylum seekers in Arad. This was also confirmed by the detainees interviewed by the author. Conversely, the director stated that legal counselling is provided by the legal counsellor from Timișoara, however, he never saw her in the detention centre in 2021, but he stated that he saw her at an interview conducted through videoconference.
[1] Article 19^7(1) Asylum Act.
[2] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 18 January 2024
[3] ibid.
[4] Article 101(1) Aliens Ordinance.
[5] ibid. Article 103(3).
[6] Article 19^14(1) Asylum Act; Article 101(2) Aliens Ordinance.
[7] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 22 February 2023.
[8] ibid. 18 January 2024.
[9] Information provided by the Public Custody Centre of Arad, 10 January 2024.
[10] Bucharest FM, “IGI: Over 440 Foreign Nationals Taken into Public Custody at Otopeni Center in 2024,” March 6, 2025, available here.
[11] General Inspectorate for Immigration, “Achievements and Results Obtained by the Police Officers of the Accommodation Center for Foreigners Taken into Public Custody Arad in the First 11 Months of This Year,” December 18, 2024, available here.
[12] General Inspectorate for Immigration, “Achievements and Results Obtained by the Police Officers of the Accommodation Center for Foreigners Taken into Public Custody Arad in the First 11 Months of This Year,” December 18, 2024, available here.
[13] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 22 February 2023.
[14] Bucharest FM, IGI: Over 440 Foreign Nationals Taken into Public Custody at Otopeni Center in 2024, 6 March 2025, available here.
[15] IGI: “Over 440 Foreign Nationals Taken into Public Custody at Otopeni Center in 2024. Over 190 Escort-Led Removal Missions Carried Out,” General Inspectorate for Immigration, accessed 24 March 2025, available here.
[16] Article 19^15(1) Asylum Act.