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

Commissioner for Refugees, a further appeal may be filed with the Administrative Court but
without suspensive effect.
If no decision has been made by the Aliens and Border Service within the above-mentioned 20day
period, the application is admitted automatically under normal determination procedure.
Normal determination procedure
First instance
Asylum seekers whose applications are deemed admissible are issued with a provisional
residence permit, valid for an initial period of 60 days and renewable each month until a decision
is made on the application.
According to Section 22 of the Asylum Act, the investigation of the case is conducted by the
Aliens and Border Service and must be completed within 60 days. However, it is possible to
extend this time limit for another 60 days. During this phase, UNHCR and the Portuguese
Refugee Council (PRC) – in practice, only the latter – can join to the file, any reports or
information regarding to applicant’s country of origin and obtain information regarding the
procedure.
Once the investigation period is over, the Aliens and Border Service prepares a report, which is
sent together with the file to the National Commissioner for Refugees. Within the next ten days,
the National Commissioner prepares a grounded proposal for a decision on granting or denying
refugee status. This is then notified to the applicant and communicated to the PRC (and, in
theory, to UNHCR), who may make observations within five days from notification/reception. If
either the applicant or the PRC makes any observations, the National Commissioner for
Refugees shall reappraise the project in the light of these new elements.
Finally, the National Commissioner submits the grounded proposal to the Minister of Home Affairs
within five days, who again will take a decision within the next eight days. The Minister always
follows the National Commissioner’s proposals.
Appeal
Legal aid
Within 20 days of notification, negative decisions by the Ministry of Home Affairs may be
appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court. Although such appeal has suspensive effect, the
provisional residence permit is not renewed during the procedure before the Supreme
Administrative Court. As a result, the asylum seeker concerned can stay in the country, but is not
allowed to work, attend schools or receive any social support.
In average, the processing of a case before the Supreme Administrative Court takes about one
year. In some cases, it can be much longer. There are no detailed statistics about decisions
made by the court, but most appeals are rejected.
Access to legal aid is provided for under Section 52(2) of the Asylum Act, which states that
UNHCR and the PRC can provide legal counselling to asylum seekers at all stages of the
procedure, and that applicants should benefit from legal aid in accordance with the general law
on this issue.
During the administrative procedure, the PRC’s lawyers provide legal counselling to applicants
and file the necessary petitions and appeals on their behalf.
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Portugal