Who can submit an asylum application

The asylum application may be filed by any foreigner who is in Romania or at a border crossing point.

A person is considered an asylum seeker from the moment they demonstrate their willingness, expressed in writing or orally before the competent authorities, showing that they demand the protection of the Romanian state.

How to file an asylum application

Asylum applications are submitted personally by foreigners who find themselves in Romania or at a checkpoint for crossing the state border.

If the foreigner is a minor, the asylum application can be submitted by the legal representative.

Minors having attained the age of 14 can apply for asylum in their own name.

If an foreigner addresses an application / memorandum / petition stating that they want some form of protection in Romania, they will be informed in writing that it is necessary to submit his demand personally to the competent authorities.

 Applications for asylum made outside Romania are not admitted.

The authorities competent to receive an application for asylum are:

– the structures of the General Inspectorate for Immigration;

– the Border Police structures;

– the police units in which are formed and operate centers for custody and provisional detention;

– the structures of the National Administration of Penitentiaries functioning within the Ministry of Justice.

The territorial competence to receive, register and process the asylum applications belongs to the regional centers for procedures and accommodation for asylum seekers under the Asylum and Integration Directorate, respectively the Bucharest Center, the Timișoara Center, the Galați Center, the Radauți Center, the Maramureș Center and the Giurgiu Center.

The competent authorities cannot refuse the asylum application on the grounds that it was submitted too late.

The standard asylum application form can be completed by:

the asylum seeker assisted by the official, or

the official designated to receive the application, in case the asylum seeker cannot write, according to the person’s oral statements.

Registration of the asylum seeker

After receipt of the asylum application the applicant will complete a preliminary interview in order to collect his personal data and those of his family members, the route he has followed from his home country to Romania, the data on possible asylum applications submitted in other third countries or in a member state of the European Union, as well as travel or identity documents in his possession.

The preliminary interview must be completed in the presence of an IGI clerk and of a translator. The translation will be done in a language that the applicant knows or it is reasonably assumed that he knows.

Together with the asylum application, the staff of the General Inspectorate for Immigration or the staff of the other competent authorities collect fingerprints of the asylum seekers who, according to the identity data proved or declared, have attained the age of 14. The fingerprints will be transmitted by the EURODAC system and stored on paper in the map library of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, respectively in electronic form in the national database AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System). The asylum seeker is informed in writing of the above operations. The collecting and transmitting of the fingerprints of the asylum seekers are done in compliance with the provisions on confidentiality and of personal data protection.

The DAI specialized staff undertakes specific examinations in order to establish the real identity of the asylum seekers who lack identity documents.

The asylum seeker is obliged to submit all the documents that they have at their disposal and are relevant to their personal situation, as well as the document for crossing the state border, and consequently they will receive the temporary identity document for asylum seekers issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration.