Belgium - Apply for Asylum Visa

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Procedure

• The asylum procedure and the competence of the asylum authorities are defined in the law of 15 December 1980 relating to the access to the territory, residence, establishment and removal of foreigners (the Aliens Act), modified by the law of 15 September 2006.
• A foreigner who wishes to seek asylum in Belgium has to file an asylum application with the Immigration Department.
• This can be done either on arrival at the border or within eight working days after arriving in Belgium, at the OEs office, in a closed centre or in prison.
• The OE then registers the asylum application and the statement of the foreigner concerning his or her identity, origin and travel route.
• The language in which the asylum procedure will take place (French or Dutch) is determined at the moment of registration and an interpreter will assist the applicant if need be.
• The OE officer will complete a questionnaire with the asylum applicant.
• Questions relate to the reasons for applying for asylum and to the applicants possibilities to return to the country he or she has fled.
• At a later stage in the asylum procedure, this questionnaire will serve as a basis for the interview at the CGRS.
• The OE is also competent to determine the EU Member State (+ Norway and Iceland) responsible for processing the asylum application.
• If his or her request to be granted asylum is rejected, the applicant can file a new application but the OE will only consider it when it contains new elements that are relevant.
• The OE is also competent to maintain the asylum applicant in a closed centre and to deliver orders to leave Belgium.
• Refugee status is granted to foreigners who meet the conditions of article 1 of the Refugee Convention (1), where a refugee is defined as any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.

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Required Documents

Any document showing the proof of identification,

• identity card,
• birth certificate

Office Locations & Contacts

The Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons

WTC II

Boulevard du Roi Albert II, 26 A

1000 BRUSSELS

Tel: 02 205 51 11

Fax: 02 205 51 15

[email protected]

Eligibility

• Any individual who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race,religion, nationality,Membership of a particular social group or political opinion, unwilling to be protected by the country of his nationality or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence for any particular reason is unable or is unwilling to return to such country owing to such fear, and any wife or child over the age of thirteen years is a refugee, and is eligible to apply for asylum.

Fees

It for free of charge

Validity

Asylum Movement pass is valid for 30 days. The Refugee Identity cards document is valid for a five year period. A renew can be done after expiration.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

It may take between 2-16 appointments which may be issued in a span of 6 months to 1 year before the RSD interview is finally conducted.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type="website">video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the "&" inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M" Video ID is "Y0US7oR_t3M". 
	

Instructions

• Currently, UNHCR carries out a Refugee Status Determination (RSD) and those asylum seekers who meet the criteria set out are given a Mandate Status under UNHCRs international mandate for protection.
• This mandate status does not accord refugees full status and rights.
• The Kingdom of Belgium consider those seeking Asylum to be those who are residing in designated camps to qualify for assistance. Beligium considers itself as only a country of asylum for as long as a refugee has a mandate or is in the process of acquiring or renewing one.
• The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (hereafter: Refugee Convention), which was signed in Geneva on 28 July 1951, is the key document for granting refugee status.
• Belgian legislation explicitly refers to this Convention.

Required Information

• Refugees are required to reveal all information that may be relevant to the granting of asylum.
• Any document showing the proof of identification,
  • identity card,
  • birth certificate

Need for the Document

The Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs in Belgium is not directly responsible for dealing with asylum applications. The granting of refugee status falls within the competence of the Federal Public Service Home Affairs and, more specifically, of the Office for Foreigners (OE, Office des trangers) and the Commissioner-General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA, Commissariat gnral pour les Rfugis et les Apatrides).

• An person can be regarded as an Asylum seek based on the following categories
  • no medical grounds (article 9ter of the Aliens Act) (3);
  • substantial grounds
  • real risk
  • serious harm.

Serious harm consists of:

• death penalty or execution
• torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of an applicant in the country of origin;
• serious and individual threat to a civilian's life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence in situations of international or internal armed conflict

Information which might help

• It is the only Belgian authority with has the investigative powers in the matter of asylum.
• The Belgium Authority assesses all asylum applications on an individual basis, first in the light of the Refugee Convention and then regarding subsidiary protection.
• If the application falls within the criteria of the Refugee Convention, the applicant will be recognised as a refugee.
• If he or she cannot be recognized but still runs a real risk of serious harm in his or her country of origin, subsidiary protection will be granted.
• If neither status applies, the Commissioner General takes a decision of refusal to grant international protection.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/policy_areas/striving_for_global_solidarity/asylum_and_migration/asylum

http://www.cgra.be/en/contact

http://belgium.usembassy.gov/visafees.html

Others

More information which might help people.