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With the final decision of the Council for Alien Law Litigation (CALL/CAD/RvV/CCE), the international protection procedure comes to an end. Applicants may find themselves in different situations:
It is still possible to lodge an appeal before the Council of State. However, the Council of State does not reassess the facts of your case. It only examines whether the CALL correctly applied the law and respected the procedural rules.
When the application has been definitively rejected following a negative decision by the CALL, the applicant generally receives an Order to Leave the Territory (OQT/BGV).
If you receive an OQT/BGV, you must leave Belgium within the period indicated in the decision and return either to your country of origin or to another country where you have a legal right of residence. If you do not leave within this period, you may become subject to removal measures, including detention in a closed centre for the purpose of forced return where the legal conditions are met.
The Belgian authorities currently place greater emphasis on enforcing Orders to Leave the Territory. It is therefore important to contact your lawyer as soon as possible to discuss any remaining legal options.
If you have new evidence or new elements, you may lodge a subsequent application under certain conditions.
The Immigration Office registers subsequent applications. The applicant must explain the new elements and the reasons why these could not be presented earlier. The file is then transmitted to the CGRS.
The CGRS first examines whether the application is admissible. It assesses whether the new elements significantly increase the likelihood that the applicant qualifies for international protection. A subsequent application may also be declared admissible if the previous application was closed following an implicit withdrawal.
The law provides relatively short deadlines for deciding on the admissibility of subsequent applications. However, in practice these deadlines are not always respected because of the authorities' workload, and the duration of the procedure may vary depending on the individual case.
If the CGRS declares the application admissible, it continues the examination of the merits, generally under an accelerated procedure.
Where a subsequent application is declared inadmissible, the CGRS must also assess whether returning the applicant would expose them to direct or indirect refoulement.
An appeal against an inadmissibility decision must be lodged before the CALL within the legal time limit indicated in the decision. In some situations, the appeal has an automatic suspensive effect, while in others it does not. Your lawyer will advise you on the applicable procedure.
Legal assistance is organised in the same way as for a first application for international protection. However, in practice, some applicants and lawyers experience difficulties obtaining legal aid where they are asked to demonstrate the existence of new elements before legal assistance is granted.
In certain situations, applicants do not automatically have the right to remain in Belgium while the admissibility of a subsequent application is being examined, particularly when:
In practice, the assessment of new elements is often applied strictly. Several specialised organisations and legal practitioners have stressed that new medical, psychological or other personal evidence submitted in a subsequent application should receive careful and individual consideration.