- In case you are detained or you remain in First Reception facilities, the competent detention or first reception services must inform the Asylum Service regarding your wish to submit an application for International Protection.
- You must submit your application in person, orally or in writing. You may also submit applications for members of your family, provided that they are along with you in Greece and they wish to do so.
- In case you cannot communicate with the Asylum Service employees, during the procedure of submitting your application, be informed that an interpreter will be present in order to assist you
- When submitting your application, you will have to answer to all questions the service employee asks you, with absolute truthfulness. If you provide false evidence or claims, this is going to have a negative effect on the judgment of your case.
- If you are an unaccompanied child, i.e. if you are under 18 years old and you are not accompanied by an adult person who is responsible of looking after you, according to the Greek law or practice, the Authorities must immediately notify the competent Public Prosecutor (District Attorney). The Public Prosecutor will appoint a representative (guardian) who will be responsible for you and will act in your best interest. If you are under 14 years old your application for international protection must be submitted by the appointed representative. If you are over 14 years old, you may submit your application yourself. The authorities will care for your protection and to ensure that you are hosted in an environment suitable for minors.
- When you submit your Application for International Protection, you and any members of your family who are over 14 years old, will be photographed and fingerprinted. Your fingerprints will be entered to the European Central Database EURODAC and, in case you have submitted an application for international protection in another state of Europe where the Dublin II Regulation is in force, you will be transferred there for the examination of your application.
- You will have to hand in your travel documents (passport) or any other document you may have in your possession and is relevant to the examination of your application, the verification of your and your family members’ identity, your country and place of origin, as well as your family status.
- You may be body searched and your personal belongings may be searched. You may be submitted to medical examinations.
- The Asylum Service will determine a date for your interview and then you will receive your international protection applicant's card which can be valid for up to six months. You must carry this card on you at all times.
- When you submit your application, the competent authorities are obliged to inform you, in a language that you understand, regarding the procedure, your rights and obligations while being an international protection applicant, as well as the deadlines that apply throughout the procedure.
- If you are a victim of torture, rape or any other serious violent act, you must inform the Authorities accordingly, so that they help you.
- You may ask to come in contact with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or an organization that provides legal, medical and psychological support.
- Throughout the procedure you have the right to ask for the support of a lawyer orother counselor of your own choice (without mediation by the Asylum Service). The fee and expenses of the lawyer or other counselor, however, will be completely at your own cost.
• If you have not received the decision and you do not go to renew your card on the next business day after its expiry date at the latest, then the Asylum Service will consider that you have received the decision on that day.
Obligations of international protection applicants
As an international protection applicant in Greece, it is your obligation:
• To remain in Greece until the examination of your application is completed.
• To cooperate with the Greek authorities regarding any issue in relevance with your application and the verification of your personal data.
• To go in person to the Asylum Service in order to renew your card before it expires and, at the latest, on the next business day after its expiry date.
• To immediately inform the Asylum Service regarding the address of your residence and your contact information and any change in them. The Asylum Service is going to send documents related to your case, to the address that you have declared.
• You must abide by the deadlines as determined throughout the different stages of the procedure of examination of your application.
• To reveal your real financial status in case you are provided with benefits by the State.
• To comply with the obligations that apply in case you are housed in a Reception Center or other facility.
Rights of international protection applicants
As an international protection applicant in Greece:
• Your deportation is prohibited until the examination of your application is completed.
• You may move freely across the country, unless specific areas of the country where you may move freely are determined on the card that you are provided with.
• If you are homeless, you may be hosted in a Reception Center or other facility.
• You have the right to work under the conditions set by the Greek law.
• As an employee, you have the same rights and obligations, regarding social security, as any Greek citizen.
• You have the right to receive hospital, medical and pharmaceutical treatment free of charge, provided that you are uninsured and indigent.
• Your children have access to the public educational system free of charge, and so do you, in case you are a child.
• You have access to vocational training.
• If you are a disabled person with a disability percentage of 67% and above, you have the right to receive a disability allowance, provided that your housing in a Reception Center is not possible.
• While being an asylum applicant, you cannot travel outside Greece.
• While being an asylum applicant, you cannot transfer your family from your country of origin to Greece.
Your right to appeal and the second instance examination
• If your application is rejected, or you are granted a status of subsidiary protection and you believe that you are entitled to a refugee status, you have the right to submit an appeal to the Appeals Authority.
• You will have to submit your appeal to one of the Regional Asylum Offices or to the dispatched unit of the Regional Asylum Offices that delivered the decision to you, within the deadline mentioned in the decision you received.
• This deadline starts on the next day after the date you received the decision. However, if you have not received the decision and you have not gone to renew your card on the next business day after its expiry at the latest, then the deadline will start on that day (i.e. the day after the card's expiry date).
• Your appeal will be examined by the Appeals Committee. The Appeals Committee usually examines appeals based on the evidence in your file and does not call you for an interview. However, you will be notified about the date that your appeal will be examined, and about when you can submit, in case you wish so, any additional evidence that the Appeals Committee should take into account.
• During the examination of your appeal, you may explicitly withdraw it at any time you wish. You must go in person to the Regional Asylum Office where you submitted your appeal and explicitly withdraw it in writing. If you explicitly withdraw your appeal, it will not be examined and you will have to abandon the country if you do not possess any other permit of legal residence in Greece.
• The Asylum Service may consider that you are not interested in the continuation of the examination of your appeal (implicit withdrawal) and reject it in the following cases:
a) if you refuse to provide information which was asked by the authorities and is of great importance for your application, or
b) if you escape from your place of detention or
c) if you do not comply with the obligations the Police has imposed to you instead of detaining you or
d) if you leave the area of residence which was determined for you by the authorities without informing them beforehand or
e) if you leave the country without asking permission from the Asylum Service or
f) if you do not immediately inform the Asylum Service regarding changes in your address and your contact information, or
g) if you do not come in contact with the Asylum Service after being requested to do so, or h) if you do not go to renew your card during the next business day after its expiry date at the latest.
• In case the Appeals Committee decides to call you for an interview, you will be notified accordingly five (5) business days before the date of the interview, at the latest. You have the right to go to the Appeals Committee accompanied by a lawyer or other counselor. Even if you do not go to the Appeals Committee, your appeal's examination will proceed regularly.
• The Appeals Committee will decide to either grant you refugee status, subsidiary protection status, or reject your appeal.
• The procedure in order to receive the decision issued by the Appeals Committee is the same as the procedure followed for the receipt of the decision issued by the Asylum Service.
• In case your appeal is rejected, or in case the decision grants you a status of subsidiary protection and you believe that you are entitled to a refugee status, you may submit an application of revocation (cancellation) to the appropriate court of law. The cancellation application does not have an automatic suspensive effect, meaning that your removal from the country is possible.
Detention of international protection applicants You must be aware that:
• An international protection applicant cannot be detained solely for the reason that he entered and remains in the country illegally.
• If you submitted an international protection application while being detained for committing a criminal offence, you will remain in detention.