Foreigners in the Czech Republic

2. Asylum and asylum facilities

The course of the asylum procedure is regulated by Act No. 325/1999 Coll., on Asylum, and on the Amendment to Act No. 283/1991 Coll., on the Police of the Czech Republic, as last amended (hereinafter referred to as the Asylum Act).
The administrative body ruling in the 1st instance on the matter is the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic (the Asylum and Migration Policies Department). Within ninety days following the commencement of the procedure, the Ministry issues its meritorious decision. This decision comes into force on the day of the delivery. A foreigner can lodge an appeal against the decision with the relevant regional court (depending on the place of residence of the seeker in the time the appeal is lodged). If the regional court dismisses the appeal, a foreigner can lodge a cassation complaint. Provided that he or she at the same
The Ministry of the Interior establishes asylum facilities (reception centres, residential centres, and integration asylum centres) for asylum seekers and refugees. Such a foreigner has to stay in the reception centre for the time stipulated by the law (for the purpose of identification, writing his/her application for asylum, medical examinations, etc.). The reception centres are established in the municipality of Vyšní Lhoty, District of Frýdek-Místek; the airport Praha-Ruzyně, and in the detention centres for foreigners (Balková, Frýdek-Místek, Velké Přílepy, Poštorná, a Bělá pod Bezdězem). If there is no legal barrier (the asylum seeker is not in a detention facility for foreigners or in prison) he or she leaves the reception centre for the residential centre where he/she is accommodated until the decision on the grant of asylum comes into force. The residential centres are located in the municipalities of Zastávka u Brna, District of Brno - venkov; Červený Újezd, District of Teplice; Bělá pod Bezdězem, District of Mladá Boleslav; Havířov, District of Karviná; Seč, District of Chrudim; Bruntál, District of Bruntál; Zbýšov, District of Brno - venkov; Stráž pod Ralskem, District of Česká Lípa; and Kostelec nad Orlicí, District of Rychnov nad Kněžnou. The integration asylum centre is used to temporarily accommodate foreigners who were granted asylum. The integration asylum centres are found in the municipalities of Jaroměř, District of Náchod; Zastávka u Brna, District of Brno - venkov; Krásná Lípa, District of Děčín; Náchod, District of Náchod; and Ústí nad Labem - Předlice, District of Ústí nad Labem.
Methodological notes on the table
Table 2-1 New applications for asylum procedure and decisions by first instance: 2004
The numbers of decisions entail all decisions, including the ones concerning minors participating in the procedure and for whom their statutory representative lodges the application for asylum. The total number of decisions is not a simple sum of the types of decisions presented in the table, but also includes other decisions (e.g. withdrawals of the right to asylum already granted. In total comparison, however, these are minimum in number.
Table 2-2 Decisions of the second administrative instance: 2004
Until 31 December 2002 the seekers appealed against the first instance decisions to the High Court (see below).
Table 2-3 Asylum procedure at regional courts of justice: 2004
Since 1 January 2003 asylum seekers can lodge an appeal with the relevant regional court (depending on the place of residence of the seeker in the time the appeal is lodged). If an asylum seeker receives a negative decision of the regional court, he ceases to be an asylum seeker (after the decision comes into force). A foreigner can lodge a cassation complaint against the decision of a regional court with the Supreme Administrative Court in the city of Brno. If the legal conditions are met, he or she can be granted a stay sufferance visa.
Table 2-4 Course of the cassation complaints proceedings at the Supreme Administrative Court: 2004
The number of participants in the proceedings is a number of citizens about the cassation complaints of whom have not been decided, yet.
Table 2-6 Asylum seekers: by place of residence; 31 December 2004
The asylum facilities include reception, residential and integration asylum centres, while other places of stay include hospitals, prisons, and detention facilities for foreigners.
Table 2-12 Citizenship of the CR granted to refugees
According to Act No. 325/1999 Coll., on Asylum, - asylum is extinguished when the citizenship is granted. The columns for 2000 to 2004 list the numbers of persons whose asylum extinguished due to the granting of citizenship.
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There were three interlinked phenomena, which were characteristic for the development of asylum issues in the Czech Republic in 2004: application of the Dublin system ) in asylum procedures in relation to the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, decrease of asylum seekers after May 2004 and change in the character of migration of persons with Chechen nationality, which started to be observable also in the second half of 2004.
In 2004 there was the smallest number of asylum seekers since 1999. Numbers of asylum seekers started to decrease in 2004 after the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. Potential asylum seekers changed their behaviour as they are aware of the possibility of application of the Dublin system and thus they try to avoid the entry into the asylum procedure on the territory of the Czech Republic. After 1 May 2004, only 2 728 applications were submitted during the 8 months (50.0% of the total number of applications for asylum submitted in 2004).
The same as in 2003, major part of asylum seekers came from European countries (67.8%). In 2004, 27.7% came to the CR from Asia. Number of asylum seekers from other continents was insignificant. Citizens of African countries participated in the total number with 3.3%, the share of seekers from the Americas was even markedly lower (0.2%). Unlike in 2003, however, the share of the stateless changed. While in 2003 their share in the total asylum seekers was 0.6%, in 2004 it increased to 1.1%.
In 2004, the most significant group of asylum seekers included citizens of Ukraine (29.3% of the total asylum seekers). The Ukraine belongs already for the long time to the main source countries from which seekers of asylum in the CR come from. Despite the year-on-year decrease (-21.7%) of applications submitted, Ukrainians replaced nationals of the Russian Federation on their first position.
In 2004, asylum was granted to 142 foreigners. In 47 cases (33.1% of the total number of asylums granted) the asylum was granted due to reasons of persecution defined in the Geneva Refugee Convention (Section 12 of the Asylum Act), in 56 cases it was granted for the purpose of family reunification (according to the Section 13 of the Asylum Act) and the remaining 39 asylums were granted due to humanitarian reasons (Section 14 of the Asylum Act).
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1) Accession of the CR to the Dublin Convention determining the State responsible for considering applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities (so-called Dublin I) and application of the Council Regulation 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing criteria and mechanisms for determination of the state responsible for examining of applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States (so-called Dublin II).