Who can apply for recognition of international protection
The request can be done by the foreigner intending to ask Italian State protection because he/she is escaping from persecutions, tortures or from war, even if he/she has entered irregularly in Italy and is devoid of documents.
In the request the applicant will have to justify the circumstances of persecution or serious damage which caused his/her escape.
The agents of this persecution or serious damage may be the State, political parties or organizations which control the State or a part of its territory, or non-State subjects if the State, or who controls it, doesn’t want to provide protection to the victim of persecution or serious damage.
Limits to presentation of the request
There are no time limits for the presentation of the request. The request may be submitted even after the 8 day-period to which the procedure is referring.
Where to submit the request for international protection
The request must be submitted to the frontier Police or at the Questura (police headquarters), that may not be the frontier Questura, but the one near which the applicant intends to reside.
The Questura will give out a document that certifies the request and the verbalizing appointment date.
The request will be verbalized from Police officers using a form, called C3, that contains personal information and a few questions about the causes that motivated the applicant to go away from his/her own Country and ask protection.
It is advisable then, at the moment of the asylum request, to bring a written memorial, in his/her own language and/or with a translation. For the editing of this memorial the applicant may ask help at the Municipality or some association that looks after the asylum right protection.
The applicant has to show documentation that attests what he/she is declaring, if available (news items, photos, official documents like police reportings or medical reports,…)
The lack of proof can not be a reason for the exclusion from the procedure.
The request cannot be rejected by Questura.
If the foreigner has a passport, he/she will have to give it to the Police, together with 4 photos, the chosen domicile (and the hospitality declaration and related documents, lease or deed contract and the host’s ID) that will all be subject to verification.
If the applicant doesn’t have a passport (because it was dangerous to turn to his/her own government - a situation not unusual among asylum seekers) it may be useful at the moment of the request to present a vital statistics certificate, an ID from his/her own Country, which, if by law cannot replace the passport, can be useful to ascertain his/her identity.
At the moment of the request it’s advisable to ask to be heard personally by the competent territorial Commission for the recognition of international protection.
At the moment of the request the applicant will choose a domicile where all communications or appointments will be sent, therefore it has to be updated or whoever lives there should transmit promptly a communication.
In the following few days Questura might give out a nominal certificate, in anticipation of the permit of stay for asylum seekers, that should be given out in 30-days time.
The issuing of the premit of stay for asylum seekers is carried out only after the Questura has verified that Italy is the Country that can examine the international protection request and that there are no reasons for custody at a CIE (Identification and Espulsion Centre) or for reception at a CARA (= Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers). The Prefect establishes a place of residence or a geographical area where the applicants can move.
Additional documentation
During every phase preceeding the hearing and in theory even after it,it is possible to present additional memorials, or proof of what is declared, of which one may come into possession after the first verbalization.
In the case of torture victims, it’s important to posses medical documentation, that gives a verification of the violence suffered,preferably written by a specialized medical staff, according to Istanbul protocol model, finally translated in Italian as well.
An important advice: keep always a copy of all documents deposited at the Questura, Prefettura and Commissione, and the records given by these authorities.
People that can not request a procedure for a
Can not apply for a refugee permit of stay those who:
have committed a crime against peace and/or humanity or a war crime
have committed a serious crime against civil law outside the reception Country before being admitted as a refugee
are guilty of actions againts the aims and principles of the United Nations
The previous law prevented access to a refugee procedure to people sentenced for crimes provided for by Item 380, paragraph 1 and 2 of the Penal Procedure Code. This objection case is no more effective.
The evaluation of non-qualification to procedure regarding serious crimes cannot be made by the Questura that received the request, but by the competent Territorial Commission.
If the foreigner is considered dangerous to the State’s security and order, his/her own request will not be recognized, but has to be examined anyways.
If the foreigner is already a refugee in another Country signatory of Ginevra Convention or has iterated the same request after a denial, the request will be declared inadmissible from the competent Territorial Commission but it has however to be received by Questura.
It disappears, in fact, the discretion previously in chief to Questura on acceptability of request.
Who decides on request?
The competent authority that decides on international protection request is the Territorial Commission for the international protection recognition.
The commissions are actually 7 and are fixed for a maximum of 10.
They are at:
Gorizia for Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Trentino Alto Adige;
Milano for Lombardia;
Torino for Emilia Romagna, Valle d’Aosta, Piemonte and Liguria;
Roma for Lazio, Abruzzo, Sardegna, Toscana, Marche and Umbria;
Caserta for Campania and Molise;
Foggia for the provinces of Foggia, Barletta-Andria-Trani;
Bari for the provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce, Taranto;
Crotone for Calabria and Basilicata;
Trapani for the provinces of Agrigento, Trapani, Palermo, Messina and Enna;
Siracusa for the provinces of Siracusa, Ragusa, Caltanissetta and Catania.
The competent Commission is the one where the request has been introduced, unless a custody or a reception on CARA is arranged; in this case the competent Commission is the one where the centre is.
Which are the possible results of hearing at Territorial Commission?
The Territorial Commission can recognize a form of international protection, political asylum or subsidiary protection, not recognize any protection form or, for reasons not referable to person security but for serious humanitarian reasons may ask to Questura to issue a permission for humanitarian protection (these are different from visa for humanitarian reasons issued till january 2008, recognized to subsidiary protection).
The normative is very precise about the definition of:
persecution acts and persecution reasons that, if recognized, will allow applicant to obtain the refugee status, or
serious damage that, if recognized, allows the applicant to obtain the subsidiary protection.
Both protection forms, unlike previous dispositions, are status, and the repeal of status can be disposed only after a check of individual situation and with a specific procedure.
The refugee status
The refugee status is recognized in presence of persecution acts for specific reasons:
A. Persecution acts
According to the valuation for refugee status recognition, persecution acts as established on Ginevra Convention, must alternately:
a) be sufficiently serious, for nature or frequence, to represent a serious violation of fundamental human rights, in particular of rights of which any dispensation is excluded;
b) establish the sum of different measures, among which human rights violations, whose impact is sufficiently serious to exercise on the person a serious violation of fundamental human rights;
Persecution acts can, what’s more, assume the form of:
a) physical or psychical violence acts, including sexual violence;
b) legislative, administrative, police or legal measures discriminatory for their own nature or executed in a discriminatory manner;
c) disproportionate or discriminatory legal actions or legal sanctions;
d) a refuse to access to legal guardianship tools and consequent disproportionate or discriminatory sanction;
e) legal actions or legal sanctions as a consequence of the refuse of doing military service in a conflict, when it may involve crimes, offences or acts considered war crimes or crimes against humanity;
f) acts specifically directed against a sexual gender or against childhood.
B. Persecution reasons
In order to the recognition of refugee status, persecution acts must be referenced to reasons like:
a) “race”
b) “religion”
c) “nationality”
d) “particular social group”
e) “political opinion”
When examining if an applicant have a well-founded fear of being persecuted, it’s irrelevant if the applicant owns effectively racial, religious, national, social or political features that provoke persecution acts, as long as this feature had been attributed by the author of persecutions.
The recognition of refugee status allows:
the issuing of a visa for political asylum for 5 years;
the issuing of a refugee travel document for going abroad;
the issuing of a refugee card which permits further renewals and files;
to ask for citizenship for naturalization after only 5 years;
to reunite the family, or to do a cohesion on the basis of requirements previewed by the law, but without proving accomodation and income, and with facilities with regard to documents that certify the family relationship;
access to occupation
access to education
health and social care (civil disability, accompaniment benefit, maternity benefit) equal to Italian citizens.
The subsidiary protection
The subsidiary protection is recognized in the presence of personal serious damage.
In order to recognize subsidiary protection, are considered serious damages:
a) death sentence or execution of death sentence;
b) torture or other punishment forms, inhuman or demeaning behaviour to the detritment of the applicant on his/her own origin Country;
c) serious individual threats to life of a civil person resulting from indiscriminate violence in situation of inland or international armed conflict.
The recognition of subsidiary protection allows:
the issuing of a visa for subsidiary protection for 3 years;
the issuing of a travel document for who cannot require it to their own Embassy for going abroad;
to reunite the family, or do a cohesion, on the basis of requirements previewed by the law, but with facilities with regard to the documents certifying family relationship;
access to occupation;
access to education;
health and social care (civil disability, accompaniment benefit, maternity benefit) equal to Italian citizens.
What happens after the submission of the request?
1. Reception on CARA
As a consequence of the submission of asylum request, Questura has the power to decide on reception or custody of the applicant.
The custody on Identification Centres and the simplified procedure are no more previewed from the rules, that now talk about reception on CARA, that may be disposed:
to verify or determine the nationality or identity if he/she hasn’t travel or identification documents, or has – at the arrival on the State – showed fake documents. The reception is limited to the necessary time for completing checks and however can not exceed 20 days.
when he/she submitted the request after being stopped for having eluded or tried to elude the border control or soon after. The reception is limited to the time necessary for the request examination and however can not exceed 35 days.
when he/she submitted the request after being stopped in irregular stay conditions.
The reception is limited to the time necessary for the request examination and however can not exceed 35 days.
If the applicant is in a CARA it will be issued not a visa but a nominative certificate.
At maturity of the reception period to the applicant a visa for asylum request is issued, valid for 3 months.
2. Holding on CIE
The applicant will be held on CIE if:
he/she is the recipient of an expulsion or rejecting measure;
he/she committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity;
he/she committed a serious crime of common law outside the host country before being admitted as refugee;
he/she is guilty of acts opposed to aims and principles of United Nations;
he/she has been condemned in Italy for one of the crimes indicated on law 380, paragraph 1 and 2 of Penal Procedure code, or crimes inherent in drugs, sexual freedom, abetment of clandestine immigration toward Italy and clandestine emigration from Italy to other countries, or for crimes headed for recruitment of people for prostitution or exploitation in prostitution or underage to employ in illicit activities.
If the applicant has being transferred in a CIE, it will be issued not a visa, but a nominative certificate. The law does not refer to holding limits.
If the holding isn’t set-out the applicant, after the checks with regard to the competent state for the examination of request pursuant to the Council Rule 343/2003 made with the comparison of fingerprints through the EURODAC system, receives an identity certificate and then a visa for asylum request that lasts 3 months and is renewable until the procedure limit. With this visa one can ask a tax code and must do the registration to National Health Service.
The applicant has the right of health services exempt from expense share.
The applicant cannot work.
After 6 months from the issuing of the first visa, if the procedure isn’t finished, it must be issued a 6-months long permission that allows to work. The applicant could move around on the place established by Prefect.
3. Protection service for asylum seekers
To the people who doesn’t fall within cases of reception on CARA or holding should be guaranteed the reception on Protection System. In fact, the Decree n. 140 of 30 may 2005 obliges the Countries to receive the applicants that go to Questura for submitting the request within 8 days from entrance. The asylum seeker must require reception at the moment of request submission, declaring to not have his/her own sustenance.
For who has the right to reception on SPRAR (=Central Service of Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees) but is not included on Protection System it’s possible to ask an economic benefit from the State, doing a written request to Foreigner Office at Questura, that will forward it to the competent territorial Prefettura.
“Dublin cases”
If the applicant falls within the cases previewed by rule 343/2003, it will be issued a 1-month long “Dublin Convention” permission, renewable until the verification procedure and eventual relocation will not be completed.
Applicant audition
The audition is not mandatory, but the applicant must present him/herself if summoned. The Territorial Commission may decide even without the interview, if it considers to have enough elements to concede the International Protection. The commission informs Questura about the audition date; the latter will provide on inform the applicant at the domicile declared on visa or at the centre where he/she is received. It’s important and mandatory to update the domicile when renewing visa.
If the applicant does not present himself to the audition without asking a delay, the request will be examined on the basis of despatched documentation.
Which are times and ways for the examination of request?
The examination of request through summoning of the applicant should happen within 30 days from request and the decision should be taken in 3 days. If the request turn out clearly well-founded, or is showed by a person that fall within vulnerable categories, or by a held applicant, the request is examined in a priority way.
Re-examination
In case of negative result, one may ask a re-examination instance
This request can be done only in case of new elements or documents not available before.
Although the law provides it only for who is not held it’s possible however to send a reassesment request to the commission that examined the request, if one believe that important elements weren’t examined or became available later on. It’s necessary however to make an appeal to remain in Italy.
Appeal
The appeal has to be made at ordinary Court. The competent Court is the one at the Court of Appeal main town district where the Territorial Commission is.
The appeal stops the expulsion, but the recent normative modifications preview numerous exceptions
who had the denial following the audition where he/she wasn’t present;
the applicant whose request was rejected for groundlessness;
who had been transferred on CARA because of irregular presence or on CIE.
The claimant may ask to the Court, contextually to appeal depot, the measure suspension for serious and well-founded reasons.
The appeal limits previewed by the law are 30 days. After the appeal the law disposes the issuing of a asylum request permit.
For the applicants held on CIE or CARA the limits for the appeal are 15 days.
The applicant has the right – if subsists income requisitions – to free patronage at the expense of the State. The income may be self-certified, without turning to documentation that normally must be requested to the origin country Embassy.
The appeal may be done also in case of status retraction measure.
First assistance contribution
In case of reception places unavailability will be supplied, upon request, an economic contribution with an amount established by the Ministry of the Interior.
Job
The asylum seeker cannot work on the first 6 months after his entry in Italy. At the second renewal he/she has the right of a permission for 6 months with the explicit wording that it’s a permission that allows to work. It’s not however convertible in a job permission visa.
The refugee and the beneficiary of humanitarian protection can work, can register at placement lists and frequent training courses. In case of stipulation of an employment contract they cannot stipulate a residence contract, as explained on ministerial note of 25 october 2005 in clarification to competences on Sportello Unico.
Health
The asylum seeker in possession of a visa and of a tax code has the duty of inscription to National Health Service, that gives the right to a general practitioner and of specialized services, without paying, namely with medical charges exemption.
The refugee and the subsidiary protection beneficiary must register at Health Service to have the benefit of medical services with expense sharing.
Repeal and cessation of status
The decision about status repeal and/or cessation measures is attributed to National Commission.
The cessation of refugee status can be disposed if the foreigner:
voluntarily avails again himself of the protection of the Country in which he/she has citizenship;
losing the citizenship, voluntarily regains it;
has gained the Italian citizenship or other citizenship and enjoys the protection of this Country;
voluntarily re-establishes himself on the Country that he/she left – also for fear of being persecuted;
can’t no more give up to his/her own Country protection, because the circumstances that determine the refugee status are no more valid;
is a stateless person able to return to the Country where he/she usually had residence because the circumstances that determine the refugee status are no more valid;
In the last two cases the circumstances change must be non-temporary and able to remove the well-founded fear of persecution; there has to be no serious humanitarian reasons that impede the return to the origin Country.
The repeal of refugee status may be disposed – on individual basis – if after the refugee status recognition, it’s verified that:
there are still reasons for the denial of status on the basis of requirements or of danger for the State security;
the refugee status recognition has been determined – in an exclusive way – from facts introduced in a wrong way or from their omission, or from recourse to fake documentation of facts;
The cessation of subsidiary protection status may be disposed if the circumstances that induced to the recognition are no more valid or has changed in such a manner that the protection is no more necessary.
The changed circumstances must be so important and non-temporary that the person is no more exposed to actual risk of serious damage provided for by article 14 and there has to be no more humanitarian reasons that impede the return to origin Country.
The repeal of subsidiary protection status may be disposed if, after the status recognition, is ensured that:
there are still causes of exclusion to procedure access;
the subsisiary protection status recognition has been determined – in an exclusive way – from facts introduced in a wrong way or from their omission, or from recourse to fake documentation of facts;
In all these cases the person concerned must be informed of the procedure in progress and must have the possibility to be heard in a personal interview.
Translated by Alessia Bertin
