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The maximum detention period that a person can stay in a CIE is 60 days, after which they must be released.[1] The maximum detention duration for an asylum seeker who has applied for asylum from the CIE is the 4-day admissibility phase. If they are admitted, they will continue their asylum claim outside detention.
Persons issued with detention orders upon arrival are detained in police stations for a maximum period of 72 hours. Where return has not been carried out within that time limit, they have been transferred to a CIE. In its 2022 annual report, the Jesuit Migrant Service indicated that in 2022, the average duration of detention was of 30.20 days.[2]
The maximum duration of persons’ de facto detention and their obligation to remain in border facilities is 8 days. When this time limit is not respected, the applicant is usually admitted to territory, and will continue their asylum claim through the regular procedure.
[1] Article 62(2) Aliens Act.
[2] Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes, ‘Informe CIE 2022. Diferencias que generan desigualdad. Anexo de cifras’, June 2023, available in Spanish at: https://tinyurl.com/3f3cyf9r.