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

Statistics
Reunification is not conditional upon a minimum length of residence, but the refugee living in
Luxembourg must be able to demonstrate adequate housing as well as sufficient resources.
However, unlike other non-EU foreigners, recognised refugees who receive the monthly Minimum
Guaranteed Income (basic social allowance) are deemed to meet the latter condition.
Persons granted temporary protection will be allowed family reunification with their spouse and
minor children, according to the Law of 18 March 2000 which amended the Asylum Law.
Asylum seekers are not, in principle, entitled to any form of family reunification. However, in 1999,
the government agreed on an exceptional basis, to receive 102 persons with family links to
Kosovo Albanians staying in Luxembourg, either as asylum seekers or migrants. Most of these
Kosovo Albanians have now returned to Kosovo.
Procedure: applications for family reunification must be submitted to the Ministry of Justice by the
persons residing in Luxembourg. The Ministry is responsible for granting residence permits to the
family members. In cases of rejection, the applicant may lodge an appeal for annulment with the
Administrative Court and may appeal further to the Administrative Court of Appeal if the
Administrative Court confirms the rejection.
Status of the person reunited: family members reunited with a refugee are granted refugee status
if they request such status. Otherwise they are granted the status of immigrant workers and a
residence permit, generally valid for five years and renewable. Travel arrangements to
Luxembourg for the family members may be organised by the International Organization for
Migration (IOM), upon request from the Governement’s Commission for Aliens, which will then
cover the costs.
There are no figures available regarding the number of persons reunited in Luxembourg.
Number of asylum applications
Number of asylum applications submitted in Luxembourg
No. of applications (files) No. of persons
1996 144 263
1997 296 427
1998 893 1,709
1999 1,385 2,921
Number of refugee statuses granted
No. of cases No. of persons
1997 22 not available
1998 18 43*
1999 not available 29**
* includes decisions made on applications submitted in 1998 (6) and before 1998 (37)
** only includes decisions made on applications submitted in 1999
Number of Convention refugees living in Luxembourg
On 1 January 2000, there were 99 Convention refugees with valid Convention travel documents
resident in Luxembourg. This figure does not include children under 15 years registered on their
parents' travel documents or refugees who have not requested the renewal of their travel
documents.
185
Luxembourg