Forms and levels of material reception conditions

Author

JRS Romania

According to IGI, in 2023, 6,638 asylum seekers benefitted from financial allowances.[1]

Reception conditions consist of: accommodation in one of the reception centres; financial allowance for food and clothing; and pocket money.

According to CNRR,[2] in practice, there are a series of challenges that asylum seekers face in accessing their socio-economic rights. The most important is the language barrier. Moreover, the procedures for accessing national public health programmes, health insurance, applying for social benefits (unemployment or child allowance), school enrolment, are characterised by heavy bureaucratic procedures that are very difficult to navigate without any guidance or assistance. Public institutions services are also not adapted to the specific needs of asylum seekers, the public servants are not aware of the legislation in this field and therefore their access to these rights is oftentimes denied requiring direct interventions from NGOs.

Allowance for food / clothing and pocket money

Asylum seekers are entitled to receive, upon request, the following allowances, which were doubled as of 27 February 2022:[3]

• Food daily allowance of 20 RON / € 4.08 from 10 RON / € 2.08 per person;
• Clothing one-off allowance of 135 RON/ € 27.55 from 67 RON / €13.95 per person during summer and 200 RON/ € 40.81 from 100 RON / € 20.83 per person during winter;
• Pocket money of 12 RON/ € 2.45 from 6 RON / € 1.25 per day per person for other expenses such as local transport expenses, cultural services, press, repair and maintenance services and personal hygiene products expenses.

There were no available reports of lack of or difficulty in accessing public funds (local, national or EU funds) hampering or limiting the provision of reception conditions in 2023.

Monthly amounts of financial allowances for different categories of applicants are as follows:[4]

Before the 2015 reform, asylum seekers were granted a financial allowance of 3.6 RON per day, amounting to a monthly total of 108 RON / € 23. In general, the financial allowance is sufficient to ensure a decent living. In cases of families, all the members are entitled to receive the financial allowance. The only persons who have complained about the amount of the financial allowance are single men.

In comparison, Romanian nationals with low-income benefit from social assistance,[5] heating assistance[6] and a family allowance.[7] Romanian nationals – families and single persons – are entitled to a minimum guaranteed income as a form of social assistance.[8] The monthly minimum guaranteed income is determined based on the social reference indicator (indicator social de referinta, ISR) set by law at 500 RON / €100. Starting from 1 March 2022 the ISR increased to 525,5 RON/ €107. The minimum guaranteed income level is as follows:

In addition, the State affords an allowance for all children, including nationals and non-nationals, up to the age of 18.[9] This type of financial allowance is complementary to other forms of material support afforded by the State. The level of the state child allowance is determined by the ISR and amounts to:[10]

600 RON / €122 for children up to the age of 2, or 3 in case of a disabled child;

243 RON / €49 for children between the age 2 and 18;

Even though a comparison between financial assistance granted to nationals and asylum seekers is difficult to make due to the diversity of available allowances and the applicable calculation modes, asylum seekers are not treated less favourably than nationals as far as material support is concerned. They also benefit from other financial allowances than the ones provided by the Asylum Act, such as the allowance for children and they are also entitled to receive social assistance under the conditions provided by Act292/2011 on Social Assistance, as amended.[11]

Accommodation allowance where reception capacity is exceeded.

A new form of reception conditions was included by the 2015 reform. When the capacity in the reception centres for asylum seekers is exceeded, IGI-DAI may grant asylum seekers an accommodation allowance for the purpose of renting a house or contracting specialised services for the reception and accommodation of asylum seekers in individual or collective locations, within the limits of the available funds.[12]This form of reception conditions has never been applied to date.

In these situations, IGI-DAI may provide, upon request, material assistance amounting to the following monthly sums per person: rental assistance of 808 RON / €165; and maintenance assistance of 145 RON / €29.59 during the summer season and 185 RON / €37.75 during the winter season. In the case of a two-member household, the monthly amount paid to a person for rental decreases by 30%. In the case of households consisting of three or more members, the amount granted monthly to a person for rental decreases by 40%.[13]

This material assistance shall be granted in the first month after the filing of the application, without the need for the submission of supporting documents for the rental. However, for the second month the submission of these documents is mandatory. If the requested documents are not submitted by the second month, the grant is suspended.

Reimbursement of expenses related to travel

Asylum seekers also have the right to reimbursement, upon request, of transport costs associated with their court proceedings, if the judicial process takes place in a different area than the one where they are residing, and if transport is carried out by road, rail or ferry.[14]

The reimbursement of transport expenses is made on the basis of a request filed by the asylum seeker, together with travel tickets, filed within 5 working days from the date of the court hearing at the Regional Centre where the asylum seeker is accommodated. The reimbursement is made after checks have been carried out in order to certify the presence of the asylum seeker in court.[15]

The Asylum Decree refers particularly to asylum seekers accommodated in Şomcuta Mare and Rădăuţi, since the competent courts for onward appeals (see Regular Procedure: Appeal) are located in a different city than the one where the Regional Centres are located; respectively Baia-Mare and Suceava. The policy of reimbursement is applied in practice.

Asylum seekers moved from Tudor Gociu centre to Giurgiu while their appeal was pending at Administrative Court District 4 Bucharest were also eligible for these reimbursements. The legal counsellor in Giurgiu centre stated that they enquired and the respective asylum-seekers will be reimbursed if they present the travel tickets.

IGI-DAI may also involve asylum seekers in activities related to the maintenance or redevelopment of the interior and exterior spaces of Regional Centres, or support to the centre staff in information and counselling activities.[16] Asylum seekers who perform this kind of activity benefit from an additional allowance for food of 10 RON / €2 per day.[17] According to the director of Galati centre this provision is applied frequently. In Rădăuţi, the director stated that in 2022 there were cases when they provided this amount. The legal counsellor, however, declared that there were no such cases. The director of the Giurgiu centre mentioned that no additional allowance had been afforded in 2022.

According to the director of Timișoara centre, the majority of asylum seekers were transferred before they received financial aid, especially in the last part of 2022, when asylum seekers were transferred in a maximum of three days after their arrival. This was also confirmed by the directors from the other centres. Based on the financial assessment made in Timișoara; asylum seekers received the financial aid in the destination centre, according to the director of Timișoara.

It was reported by the CNRR representative in Giurgiu, that asylum seekers receive the financial aid a week after their arrival at the centre, as the assessment of their financial situation has to be approved in Bucharest, as Giurgiu centre is not a financial controller. In Galati asylum seekers are granted the aid within 3 days.

In practice, the reimbursement policy could not be applied in the case of Şomcuta Mare due to the fact that there is no public transportation to Baia Mare. Applicants have to hitch hike to go to the court.[18]

Material and financial assistance from NGOs

In 2022, in addition to the material reception conditions afforded by IGI-DAI, asylum seekers also benefit from material assistance provided by AIDRom through the project “A.C.A.S.A. – Complex Social Assistance for Asylum Seekers” financed through AMIF funds.[19] The project ended in December 2022. AIDRom provided material assistance to asylum seekers accommodated in all Regional Centres, in the 2 Accommodation and Counselling Centres run by AIDRom in Bucharest and Timișoara. However, the project did not continue in 2023.[20]

In 2022, the number of social vouchers granted through the new project by AIDRom to asylum seekers continued to decrease compared to the previous implemented projects. Within the project, ’A.C.A.S.A-. Complex Social Assistance for Asylum Seekers’ financed through AMIF funds, the assistance offered by AIDRom consisted of:

Financial assistance for translation of civil status documents and/or diplomas, as well as legalisation / authentication / apostilles of approximately 45 (instead of 50 in 2019 and 60 in 2018) pages of documents;

• 385 packages of food for asylum seekers transferred between Regional Centres or transferred from the place where the asylum application was made to the Regional Centre (instead of 600 prescribed in the previous project);
• 135 social vouchers for vulnerable asylum seekers (100 in the previous project;
• 350 installation packages for persons accommodated in AIDRom Centres and in Regional Centres at the time of filing the asylum application.
• Direct material assistance for asylum seekers accommodated in public custody centres: food, personal hygiene products, clothing / footwear, as well as goods for cultural and recreational activities. According to AIDRom representative the indicators were the same in 2022.

[1] Ministry of Interior Affairs, PROGRAMUL NAȚIONAL 2021-2027 AZIL MIGRAȚIE ȘI INTEGRARE – GHIDUL SPECIFIC aferent apelului de proiecte, available in Romanian here.

[2] CNRR, Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2024, 2023, available here.

[3] Article 55(1) Asylum Decree, modified by Decision 277 of 27 February 2022.

[4] Article 55(2) a-g Asylum Decree, modified by Decision 277 of 27 February 2022.

[5] Act 416/2001 on Minimum Guaranteed Income, available at: http://bit.ly/2AWyH00.

[6] Emergency Government Ordinance 70/2011 on social protection measures during the cold season, available at: http://bit.ly/2mtUk2t.

[7] Act 277/2010 on Family Allowance, available at: http://bit.ly/2FvzrN3.

[8] Article 1(1)-(2) Act 416/2001 on Minimum Guaranteed Income.

[9] Article 1 Act 61/1993 on the State Child Allowance.

[10] Article 3 Act 61/1993 on the State Child Allowance.

[11] Article 17(1)(n^1) Asylum Act.

[12] Article 17(8) Asylum Act.

[13] Article 55(4) Asylum Decree, modified by Decision 91 of 19 January 2022.

[14] Article 17(1)(q) Asylum Act.

[15] Article 56(2^1) Asylum Decree.

[16] Article 55(9) Asylum Decree.

[17] Article 55(10) Asylum Decree.

[18] Experience based observation by JRS Romania, April 2024.

[19] Information provided by AIDRom, 4 March 2021.

[20] See IGI, there was no project on material assistance for asylum seekers provided under AMIF through NGOs in 2023: IGI-DAI, ANUNT DE ATRIBUIRE – a contractelor de finantare nerambursabila in cadrul selectie de projecte FAMI 22.02, 2023, available in Romanian here.