Asylum shopping is a pejorative term for the practice by some
asylum seekers
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and mi ...
of applying for
asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
in several states or seeking to apply in a particular state after traveling through other states. The phrase is derogatory, suggesting that asylum seekers are mere consumers who are seeking the best deal in terms of humanitarian refuge. It is used mostly in the context of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
and the
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area ( , ) is an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. Being an element within the wider area of freedom, security and j ...
, but has also been used by the
Federal Court of Canada
The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. ...
.
Refugees and asylum-seekers are protected by international convention under the principle of
non-refoulement
Non-refoulement () is a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on "race, religion, nationality, membe ...
, which establishes that a country cannot force someone seeking refuge to return to a country of origin if the person is likely to be persecuted there. The
Dublin Convention
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 cen ...
covering the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
stipulates that asylum seekers are returned to the country where their entry into the union was first recorded, and where they were first fingerprinted. Another objective of this policy is to prevent ''asylum seekers in orbit'', i.e., to prevent the continual transfer of asylum seekers between countries trying to get others to accept them. One of the objectives of the
Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest an ...
is to prevent so-called "asylum shopping."
European law
European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...
, the
Dublin Regulation
The Dublin Regulation (Regulation No. 604/2013; sometimes the Dublin III Regulation; previously the Dublin II Regulation and Dublin Convention) is a European Union (EU) law that determines which EU Member State is responsible for the examina ...
, requires that asylum seekers have their asylum claim registered in the first country they arrive in, and that the decision of the first EU country they apply in is the final decision in all EU countries. However, among some asylum seekers, fingerprinting and registration is vehemently resisted in countries that are not asylum-seeker friendly. For example, some people seek to apply for
asylum in Germany
The right of asylum for victims of political persecution is a basic right stipulated in the Constitution of Germany. In a wider sense, the right of asylum recognises the definition of ' refugee' as established in the 1951 Refugee Convention and ...
and Sweden where a more serious approach to welfare and integration support is taken, and fundamental rights are more likely to be met.
Some asylum seekers reportedly burned their fingers to avoid fingerprint record control in Italy so that they could apply for asylum in a different country.
The fingerprint record, known as the
Eurodac
European Dactyloscopy (Eurodac) is the European Union (EU) fingerprint database for identifying asylum seekers and irregular border-crossers. After the European Parliament approved the last EURODAC reform poposed by far-right party Vox (December 2 ...
system, is used to intercept multiple or false asylum claims. In Ireland, two-thirds of asylum seekers whose applications failed were found to be already known to the British border authorities, a third of the time under a different nationality, such as Tanzanians claiming to be fleeing persecution in Somalia.
See also
*
Asylum seeker
An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...
*
Chain migration
Chain migration is the social process by which immigrants from a particular area follow others from that area to a particular destination. The destination may be in another country or in a new location within the same country.
John S. MacDonal ...
*
Economic results of migration
The economic results of migration impact the economies of both the sending and receiving countries.
Economic impact on natives
According to David Card, Christian Dustmann, and Ian Preston, "most existing studies of the economic impacts of immigr ...
*
Forum shopping
Forum shopping is a colloquial term for the practice of litigants having their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favorable judgment. Some jurisdictions have, for example, become known as "plaintiff-friendly" and so h ...
*
Gaming the system
*
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
*
Non-refoulement
Non-refoulement () is a fundamental principle of international law that forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on "race, religion, nationality, membe ...
*
Xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asylum Shopping
Refugees
Right of asylum
Immigration to the United Kingdom
Refugees in Europe
Refugees in the United Kingdom
fr:Droit d'asile dans l'Union européenne#Asylum shopping
it:Diritto d'asilo nell'Unione europea#Asylum shopping