Belgium's new "accelerated procedure" for handling asylum claims has rejected 96% of applications so far, according to a report by De Tijd. The process was introduced by outgoing State

Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, to ease pressure on the country's overwhelmed asylum services.

Since February, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) has been able to expedite applications deemed unlikely to be approved, such as those from individuals coming from designated safe countries.

This fast-track approach aligns with the EU migration pact’s accelerated border procedure, which mandates that asylum seekers with minimal chances of recognition should receive a decision within 12 weeks. Belgium has set an even shorter goal of 50 working days.

Processing Applications from Safe Countries

Government data reveals that the CGRS has fast-tracked 859 applications. Only asylum seekers from a list of eight safe countries—Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, India, and Moldova—or those with low chances of recognition qualify for this procedure.

The CGRS processes applications from individuals from safe countries within 14 working days and handles cases with a low likelihood of protection within 40 working days. Moldovan, Congolese, and Georgian nationals, in particular, are frequently placed in this fast-track system, as their success rates for asylum are low despite high application numbers.

De Moor, a member of the CD&V party involved in federal government formation talks, has proposed further streamlining the procedure. She suggests processing all asylum seekers eligible for the fast track at a single location to save time and facilitate quicker departures for those whose applications are denied. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov, Wikimedia commons.