legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

A preliminary interview is conducted by the police in view of gathering information on identity,
nationality and travel route. If the police consider that the asylum seeker’s statement is not
credible, the Chief of the Police may decide to refuse entry into the country. If the police consider
the asylum seeker’s statement credible the application for asylum is forwarded to the Directorate
for Immigration under the Ministry of Justice who is responsible for taking the decision on asylum.
No formal appeal is possible against a decision of rejection at the border and the applicant will be
required to leave the country immediately.
Entry in to the territory.
Asylum seekers who are not rejected at the border upon arrival are allowed to enter the territory
and are admitted to the asylum determination procedure. Applicants who have entered Iceland
illegally must submit their application to the Directorate for Immigration within the country.
Determination procedure
Appeal
Legal aid
First instance decisions under the asylum determination procedure are made by the Directorate
of Immigration. The first instance decision is based on the written record of the police interview as
well as a second interview with the Directorate. Each asylum case is notified to the Icelandic Red
Cross and one of its representative is present at all interviews. His/her role is mainly a
humanitarian one.
It is the aim of the Directorate of Immigration to reach a decision within three months from
submission of the application, but at present the processing of an application may take up to ten
months.
According to Section 12a(2) of the Foreign Nationals Supervision Act, asylum seekers shall be
informed of their rights of appeal upon notification of a negative first instance decision. They must
also be assisted in making such appeals.
The appeal must be lodged with the Ministry of Justice within 15 days following notification of the
decision. If the appeal is lodged before the deportation measure is carried out (which, in practice,
is almost always the case since deportation orders are not enforced within these 15 days), it has
suspensive effect until the Minister makes his/her final decision.
The appeal procedure is an administrative one and the appellant is not required to appear in
person. The average processing time for the appeal procedure lies approximately around three
months.
In principle, the Minister’s decision is final. However, if he/she considers that his/her application
has not been processed according to the law, the asylum seeker has the possibility to lodge an
appeal with the first instance civil court and in case of rejection, to the Supreme Court.
There is no entitlement to legal aid during the initial interview with the police. If the representative
from the Icelandic Red Cross considers that legal representation should be granted to an
applicant, this is made available for the interview with the Directorate of Immigration.
During the appeal procedure asylum seekers are entitled to five hours of free legal counselling.
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Iceland