Asylum seekers face a number of restrictions and problems due to their status. Work ban, long wait for a decision, problems with obtaining medical care and much more complicate adaptation to a new country.
Right to work.
First and most important - work ban for 6 months from the date of filing the asylum application. If after 6 months the decision was not made through no fault of the applicant, then he gets the right to work[1]. Until this moment, to ensure your existence, he can either work illegally, or live in a refugee camp. The applicant may retain the right to work, if he has a valid D visa or residence permit.
9 August 2023 an order was issued[2] on changing the procedure for issuing temporary residence permits. This order prohibited asylum seekers from requesting temporary residence permits.. And vice versa, consideration of applications for temporary residence permits for people, who asked for asylum.
Processing times for asylum applications.
Maximum possible[3] The period for consideration of the application is 6 months. However, in the spring 2023 year, a large number of Belarusians faced delays until 12-15 months. The reason for this was said to be increased workload, arising from illegal migrants and Ukrainian temporary protection applicants.
Medical care.
Asylum seekers are insured, that is, they can use medical services in clinics for free*. However, since most of them do not have a personal code in Lithuania, they need to get an insurance number - DIK[4]. The problem is, that very often health insurance funds refuse to issue this code, because they think, that asylum seekers do not have health insurance. The same situation occurs in some medical institutions: many refuse service even with an insurance number, because it is temporary.
* Actual until 2024-01-31. What has changed? — Read
Dublin procedure.
There is an EU Directive[5] by country definition, responsible for considering an application for asylum, so-called Dublin III. That is, despite the fact, that the application can be submitted in any Member State, a single specific country will be considered responsible. Then a request is sent to it, and if she does not refuse to take the asylum seeker, then a decision will be made to transfer him there. It is often difficult to challenge such a decision, a lengthy trial causes a lot of stress for a person, especially if he has already integrated into society: found housing, work or study, established social connections and so on.
Bank account.
The problem of opening a bank account faced by asylum seekers, and those who received refugee status. The thing is, that during forced emergency migration it is not always possible to arrive with a national passport, which is necessary to open a bank account[6]. The Geneva refugee passport is not a full replacement. Asylum seekers cannot open an account also due to the lack of a residence permit, which also imposes restrictions on them, For example, students cannot receive scholarships, which must be transferred to a European account.
Some financial institutions simply do not have established procedures for interacting with asylum seekers. When do you need to confirm your right to reside in Lithuania?, Different Revolut employees provide different information at different times, therefore sometimes an asylum seeker card is considered an acceptable document, and sometimes not.
The problems of asylum seekers and refugees are due to various reasons: local legislation, international legal acts, as well as insufficient information about their legal status and lack of consolidated understanding, how to interact with them.
[1] UTPĮ 71 art. 1 d. 10 p.
[2] 1V-525 Regarding the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania 2005 m. October 12 d. order no. 1V-329 "On Lei… (e-tar.lt)
[3] UTPĮ 81 art. 1 d.
[4] How do asylum seekers get an insurance number??
[5] Regulation – 604/2013 – IN – Dublin Regulation – EUR-Lex (europa.eu)
[6] You can read the Red Cross study on this topic: ACCESS TO PAYMENT SERVICES (final) (redcross.lt)
