The European Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement to improve reception conditions for migrants seeking international protection when they arrive in the European Union, for example by reducing the time limit for obtaining a work permit from nine to six months and by making it clear that the asylum seeker cannot be detained except under very specific conditions.
The new asylum rules also strengthen the rights of unaccompanied minors, who must be assigned a guardian, while establishing that all asylum-seeking children in the EU must be in school.
Other measures to facilitate their reception and help their integration have to do with ensuring their access to language and civic education courses, as well as offering vocational training to improve their chances of integration.
The agreement also specifies that the national authorities will be able to establish the place of residence of the asylum seeker if necessary to prevent the person from fleeing while his/her case is being examined, but makes it equally clear that only in very specific and exceptional cases will detention be possible.
With the revision of the reception conditions directive, the EU wants to harmonize standards in all member states in areas such as housing conditions, health care and a minimum standard of living for applicants for international protection.
In addition, the new rules provide safeguards to prevent asylum seekers from moving between EU countries once their file has been registered in one of them.
