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

LUXEMBOURG
LEGAL CONDITIONS
The legal basis
– The Geneva Convention of 1951 and New York Protocol of 1967;
– The Law of 3 April 1996 establishing an asylum procedure, as modified by the Law of 18 March
2000 (the Asylum Law);
– The Law of 18 August 1996 regarding the entry and residence of aliens in Luxembourg (the
Aliens Law);
– The Law of 27 July 1993 regarding the integration of aliens in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
and the social assistance available to them;
– The Grand-Ducal Regulation of 29 April 1999, amending the Regulation of 12 May 1972,
defining measures regarding the employment of foreign workers;
– The Dublin Convention and the Schengen Agreement.
Refugee status
The only refugee status available in Luxembourg is Convention status, which is granted on the
basis of the asylum procedure laid down in the Asylum Law.
Convention refugees are issued with a residence permit, which is valid for five years and is
renewable.
Quota refugees
Luxembourg has no annual quota programme, but it received quota refugees on several
occasions during the seventies and eighties. These quota refugees have automatically been
granted Convention status. In 1996, 28 Iraqi refugees were resettled in Luxembourg.
Other types of residence permit
Temporary protection
In March 1992, an ad hoc status (in the form of temporary protection) was established for persons
from the former Yugoslavia. This status, which did not have any legal basis, was amended on
several occasions and has not been operative since December 1995. The status was later
revoked following a decision of the Administrative Court (“Tribunal administratif et fiscal”), which
declared that it was contrary to the Constitution due to the lack of legal basis.
Those persons who had previously enjoyed the aforementioned ad hoc status were granted the
status of immigrant worker, under certain conditions related to work and housing. Accordingly
they were issued with an alien's identity card, valid for five years. By June 1996, approximately
1,200 persons had been given such status. In addition, a status of tolerated residence was
established for those persons who did not meet the conditions required for the status of immigrant
worker but who could not return to their country of origin. This status of tolerated residence,
however, had no legal basis and was later abandoned (see “Tolerated residence” below).
178
Luxembourg