The asylum service
Back to: The Greek Asylum System and its Functions
The Greek Asylum Service, an autonomous body reporting directly to the Minister of Citizen Protection, is the only responsible office for processing asylum and asylum-related procedures. The competent authorities to register asylum applications are the Regional Asylum Offices and the Asylum Units.1 The Asylum Service is also able to apply the Dublin procedure, with most requests and transfers concerning family reunification in other Member States, and to conclude pending relocation applications.
Twelve Regional Asylum Offices (RAO) and eleven Asylum Units (AU) were operational throughout the country as of August 2019.2
- Regional Asylum Office of Attica
- Regional Asylum Office of Lesvos
- Regional Asylum Office of Thrace
- Regional Asylum Office of Rhodes
- Regional Asylum Office of Thessaloniki
- Regional Asylum Office of Samos
- Regional Asylum Office of Western Greece
- Regional Asylum Office of Leros
- Regional Asylum Office of Chios
- Regional Asylum Office of Crete
- Regional Asylum Office of Piraeus
- Regional Asylum Office of Alimos
- Asylum unit of Amygdaleza
- Asylum unit of Xanthi
- Asylum Unit of Korinthos
- Asylum Unit of Fylakio
- Asylum Unit of Kos
- Asylum Unit of Fast Track International Protection applications
- Asylum Unit of International Protection applications for Georgian and Albanian nationals
- Asylum Unit of International Protection applications for Pakistani nationals
- Asylum Unit of International Protection Beneficiaries
- Asylum Unit of International Protection Applicants under custody
- Asylum Unit of Ioannina
According to the Asylum Service, since 2013 and by the end of September 2019 there were 252,643 asylum applications. (66,966 in 2018 and 48,554 by the end of September, 2019). Two out of three (68%) applications were submitted by males while one out of four applications was put in by Syrians. The positive decisions in substance (refugee status and subsidiary protection) are 46.3%. 10,196 applications refer to unaccompanied minors (9,291 boys and 905 girls). In total 72,054 applications are pending by the end of September 2019. More up-to-dated statistical data can be found online.
[weglot-image en=“/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/asylum-applications-by-year.png“ gr=“/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/asylum-application-year-el.png“ class=“fullwidth“ lightbox=“1″ alt=“Asylum applications per year“ caption=“Source: Asylum Service. Asylum applications until September 2019″]