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

Under judicial proceedings, appellants are entitled to free legal aid on the same terms as
Portuguese nationals. In practice, however, lawyers appointed by the courts often lack
experience in asylum cases and, in many cases, do not speak foreign languages. In addition, the
system under the border (airport) procedure is not effective due to the time required for the
appointment of a lawyer whilst the appeal procedure before the Administrative Courts has no
suspensive effect.
Interpreters
According to Section 52(1) of the Asylum Act, an interpreter should assist asylum seekers, when
necessary. In practice, interpreters are only provided during the interview with the Aliens and
Border Service.
Unaccompanied minors
According to Section 56 of the Asylum Act, unaccompanied minors may, if circumstances so
require, be legally represented by non-governmental organisations.
There are no other provisions regarding the processing of applications submitted by
unaccompanied minors and, in practice, they follow the same procedure as adults.
Female asylum seekers
There is no specific provision concerning asylum applications submitted by women.
Final rejection
Detention
Asylum seekers whose applications are rejected as inadmissible are given a ten-day time limit to
leave the country voluntarily, whereas those rejected under the normal determination procedure
must leave within 30 days. In practice, expulsions are carried out mainly in airport cases and are
less common regarding in-country applicants.
In principle, it is not possible for rejected asylum seekers to apply for a residence permit for
humanitarian reasons, since the granting of such permit is also examined under the asylum
procedure. The only remaining possibility is to apply for an exceptional residence permit for
national interest or humanitarian reasons (see “Other types of residence permit” above).
No financial aid or specific assistance towards repatriation is available for rejected asylum
seekers.
Asylum seekers are usually not detained during the determination procedure. According to
Section 12 of the Asylum Act, once the alien has submitted an asylum application, any
administrative or criminal procedure for illegal entry in the country is automatically suspended.
Such procedure will be definitely closed if asylum is granted and if it appears that the illegal entry
was caused by the same reasons which have justified the granting of asylum status. Section 119
of the Aliens Act provides for a similar rule.
The only detention-like situation is under the border (airport) procedure, where applicants can be
held in the airport’s transit zone for a maximum period of five days (see above under “Rejection at
the border”). In the airport, facilities such as free telephones and UNHCR’s or the Portuguese
Refugee Council’s addresses and telephone numbers, where asylum seekers could obtain legal
advice, are not provided. In the absence of any proper buildings or premises, conditions are very
difficult: all asylum seekers stay in the same area, men and women are not separated, no
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