A person seeking protection cannot decide which country is to process his/her application. Processing an application for protection is the responsibility of the first safe country that the asylum seeker comes to. The Dublin II Regulation is an agreement between the EU countries, Iceland and Norway that ensures that all asylum seekers will have their application processed in one of these countries.
When do the provisions apply?
An application is processed as a Dublin case if the applicant
- has applied for protection in another country
- is registered with fingerprints in another country (i.e. that the person has been registered for crossing a border illegally)
- holds a visa or residence permit in another country
Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are only returned to other countries who participate in the Dublin Convention cooperation if they have applied for protection in another country.
Individual assessment
The UDI considers each Dublin case on a concrete and individual basis. Among other things, we emphasise the asylum seeker's connection to Norway and the applicant's possibility to safeguard his or her rights as an asylum seeker in the country to which we consider returning him or her.
An application for protection will not be processed in accordance with the Dublin case procedure if the applicant has a spouse or under-age children in Norway, or if the applicant is a minor and has parents in Norway. In such cases, the application is processed in Norway.
Registrations in other countries
All asylum seekers over 14 years of age and persons who have crossed borders illegally are registered with fingerprints in Eurodac. Eurodac is the EU’s electronic fingerprint register. When the police fingerprint an asylum seeker in Norway, they will automatically check whether the person is registered in Eurodac.
Requests to other countries
If the applicant is registered in Eurodac or other information connects the applicant to another member state, the UDI will ask the authorities of that country to process the application for protection.
Requests from other countries
In the same way as Norway can ask another member state to process an application for protection, other member states can also ask Norway to process an application. When the UDI receives such an application, we assess whether we agree that the processing of the application is our responsibility.
Close international cooperation
The Dublin cooperation requires close cooperation between member states. Norway is an active participant in this cooperation.
Further information
If you have further questions on this topic, you can contact the UDI’s information service.
