There is a European Union law commonly known as the Dublin Regulation, which establishes the country that is responsible for receiving and deciding on asylum applications based on agreed criteria. Cyprus is a so-called ‘Dublin Country’ as well as: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

If you have family members / relatives in a Dublin Country, you will need to provide their accurate details along with detailed information and documentation on your identity and age when you visit the Asylum Service of the Republic of Cyprus for your first asylum interview. Providing this information at the earliest opportunity will facilitate your application to join your immediate family member – mother, father, brother or sister – or close relative – aunt, uncle or grandparent.

The guardian/representative appointed to you by the government to assist you during your stay in Cyprus until you reach 18 years of age, will be present at your interview at the Asylum Service and will assist you with your application for family reunification. Your guardian/representative will accompany you whenever you have to talk to the authorities. S/he is there to ensure your best interests. This means that your needs, safety, well-being and your own views will be taken into account. Therefore an application to join your family member/relative will only be made if it is in your best interests.

You must show any documents in your possession that prove your date of birth, such as your passport or birth certificate to the Asylum Service. Birth certificates as proof of age may not always be considered as credible evidence. During your interview at the Asylum Service, you may undergo an age assessment. If after the age assessment there are still reasonable doubts about your age, you may be asked by the Asylum Service to go for medical examinations to see if you are younger or older than 18.

However, medical examinations will only take place if you and/or your guardian/representative agree in writing. The medical examination procedure will be explained to you by the Asylum Service officer and your guardian/representative. If there is anything that you do not understand, you should ask for it to be explained to you.

In order to submit your request for family reunification to the Dublin Country where you have a family member or relative, you will need to provide the following information to the Asylum Service:

• Written consent from your family member/relative in the Dublin Country that s/he agrees to take care of you;
• Written consent from you and/or your guardian/representative that you agree to be transferred to the Dublin Country specified;
• A document that shows that your family member/relative is legally present in the Dublin Country specified. The relative may have refugee status or may be an asylum-seeker;
• Evidence that you are related to the person that you wish to join;
• Full address of your family member/relative in the Dublin Country;
• Details of your family member/relative’s income and living conditions (accommodation);
• Evidence that your family member/relative is able to take care of you.

The Asylum Service of the Republic of Cyprus will review your case and the documentation you have provided and, if satisfied, submit a transfer request to the Dublin country where your family member/relative lives. The Dublin Regulations require that such transfer requests be made within three months of the date of making the asylum application. Before the request can be made, all of the necessary information and documentation must be gathered, including proof of your age. Your guardian/representative will be notified of the date your application is sent.

The country in which your family member/relative lives will examine the request and make a decision within two months of the request being made. If the country accepts responsibility for you, your transfer will take place within six months of the date of the acceptance. That country will then examine your application for asylum, and decide whether you should be allowed to stay and live there. If the country does not accept responsibility for you, the Asylum Service may write to ask if they could reconsider the decision. The country usually replies within two weeks, but sometimes it may take longer.

If you are 14 years of age or older and you make an application for asylum, your fingerprints will be taken and transmitted to a fingerprint database called ‘Eurodac’. You must cooperate in this procedure. All people who apply for asylum in the EU are obliged by law to have their fingerprints taken.

Your fingerprints might be checked at some point to see if you have ever applied for asylum before in another Dublin Country, or to see if you were previously fingerprinted at a border of another Dublin Country. If it is discovered that you have already applied for asylum in another Dublin Country, you may be sent back to this country, if it is in your best interests for you to go there. This country will then be responsible for examining your application for international protection.

Your guardian/representative is responsible to assist you in answering any more questions that you may have.

You may also contact UNHCR or the NGOs and other organisations that offer assistance, including legal advice, to refugees and asylum-seekers in Cyprus. For their details click here.