Accurate, timely, interoperable? Data management in the asylum procedure in Luxembourg

The main objective of this study of the European Migration Network is to provide objective and reliable information about the data management in the asylum procedure in Luxembourg.

The Luxembourgish Asylum Law foresees a centralised and streamlined asylum system with one single national authority for registering, lodging and examining applications for international protection, namely the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, implemented by the Directorate of Immigration. The Asylum Law clearly distinguishes the phases of making, registering and lodging an application for international protection. In practice, however, the three phases generally occur on the same day or within a few working days if the claim is not directly made to the Directorate of Immigration. Furthermore, the asylum system does not differentiate between the different types of entry routes to Luxembourgish territory. As a consequence, applicants for international protection have a swift access to the asylum procedure once they express their wish to apply for international protection in Luxembourg.

In addition to the tracks foreseen in the Recast Asylum Procedures Directive (2013/32/EU), Luxembourg operates a fourth track in the form of the ultra-accelerated procedure, which was introduced in 2017 as a practical acceleration of the accelerated procedure for applicants stemming from safe countries of origin from the Western Balkan countries and Georgia.

The study provides an detailed overview of what data is collected from applicants of international protection, at what stage of the procedure this data is collected and by whom, as well as where and how this data is stored.

Lastly, the study has shown that, despite the increase of applications since 2015 and a consistent high number of applications since then, the processing times have decreased significantly, in particular since 2017.