Applications for asylum are submitted to the police. Applications can be submitted anywhere in Iceland. After the police have received the basic information from the applicant, including fingerprinting and asking about the travel route to Iceland and identification, the police sends the application to the Directorate of Immigration for further processing and decision.
As soon as an applicant applies for asylum with the police, an examination is made as to whether the applicant needs assistance for his/her daily needs and if so, he/she is offered service by the Directorate of Immigration or the municipalities that have entered into agreements with the Directorate of Immigration to assist asylum seekers. The applicant receives consultation and legal aid by the Icelandic Red Cross.
The Dublin Regulation
When an application processed by the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration, the first step is to consider whether the provisions of the Dublin Regulation apply in the relevant case, and whether another member state of the Regulation is responsible for processing the application and whether it accepts such responsibility. Before The Directorate of Immigration decides on grounds of the Dublin Regulation, the applicant is called in for an interview at the offices of the Directorate of Immigration to go over which state is responsible for processing his/her application and the applicant is given an opportunity to describe his/her situation. If another member state confirms its responsibility for processing the application the Directorate of Immigration decides whether the applicant should be sent to that same member state. Such a decision is carried out by the International Division of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police. When an application is closed on grounds of the Dublin Regulation no decision is made whether the applicant has the right to international protection.
Case procedure on the merits
If Iceland is responsible for processing an application for asylum, the application is taken for procedure by the Directorate of Immigration. This means deciding whether the relevant applicant needs protection. In such an instance an assessment is made as to whether the applicant’s circumstances fall under the definition of a refugee, whether he/she needs subsidiary protection or residence permit on humanitarian grounds, see here.
All of these permits entail some kind of protection for the applicant. In instances where an applicant is denied permit he/she may appeal the decision to the Immigration and Asylum Appeals Board.
Below is a simplified overview of the procedure of applications by the Directorate of Immigration.
