last update: December 2012
You cannot choose the country in which you wish to apply for asylum.
According to the Dublin regulation, you can only apply for refugee status in one member state. Usually, this is the first member state which you reach. In practice this normally means that any subsequent country where you apply will return you to the appropriate state.
This might happen when:
• your fingerprints were taken in another country (and stored on a common European database called EURODAC)
• you admit that you have been to, or travelled through, another country, even if you didn’t give your fingerprints
• it can be shown by some other source of evidence that you have been to, or travelled through another country
• it can be shown that you were previously issued a visa for an EU country
• you tell the authorities that you wish to join your spouse, who is an asylum seeker or a refugee in another country
Alternatively, if your husband, wife or child is an asylum seeker or a recognised refugee in another member state, that country should be responsible for your asylum application only if you so desire. If you are an unaccompanied minor, the member state where your parent or parents reside is responsible for your asylum application.
Article 3.4 Dublin regulation
The asylum seeker shall be informed in writing in a language that he or she may reasonably be expected to understand regarding the application of this Regulation, its time limits and its effects.
The Dublin Regulation applies in the following countries Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
The Regulation in Operation
The Take Charge Procedure
Where another member state is designated responsible under the criteria in the Regulation, that state is approached to take charge of you and to examine your application.
The Take Back Procedure
Where a member state has already examined or begun to examine