Apply for physical asylum again in Klein Kasteeltje

Anyone who requests international legal protection in our country must, according to the Reception Act, immediately receive shelter. This law dates from 2007 and immediately provides material aid for those who apply for international protection in our country. Due to the corona crisis, part of the procedure took place online and sometimes weeks passed between the time of online registration and the physical registration with Fedasil. During that period, applicants did not receive childcare. Many asylum seekers went to court to enforce it more quickly and were proved right by the court at the beginning of October. Our country was given until 6 November to come up with a solution, otherwise penalties of 2,500 euros per day were threatened.

Over the past three weeks, we have been working with the Immigration Department and Fedasil to restart the physical registration in the Little Castle in Brussels, says State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Sammy Mahdi (CD&V). “There was a trial day last Friday and it went well. Given the corona crisis, that is not always easy,” says Mahdi. “The measures must always be respected by everyone and the police and community guard of Brussels will supervise them.” Mahdi also wants to avoid long queues. “Our intention is to have enough distance and people who arrive will be allocated a specific hour, so that they do not all have to wait. The capacity has also been increased so that everyone can be received,” says Mahdi.

Does that mean that online registration will disappear completely? The online system is now being phased out, but it also has advantages “, says Mahdi.” By working online, the services were able to schedule registrations more efficiently and run more smoothly in these exceptional times. The crisis is not over yet, so we will investigate whether we can work with an adapted system, in which we respect European law and organize the registration process as safely as possible. “

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