Information request: ‘Preliminary decision procedures in asylum applications’

Ad-hoc query* on preliminary decision procedures in asylum applications in EU Member States. 

Study period – October-December 2025
Participating countries – Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Cyprus (CY), Estonia (EE), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (GE), Greece (EL), Hungary (HU), Italy (IT), Croatia (HR), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Czech Republic (CZ), Sweden (SE)

Background and Scope

• With this information request, EMN Netherlands seeks to determine:
  • whether other EU Member States inform asylum seekers in advance of a proposed asylum decision, allowing them to respond to it;
  • whether EU Member States have other procedures that allow asylum seekers to file objections with the immigration authority or another government agency before the decision is finalised by the court.
• This ad hoc query thus provides an overview of all the options available to asylum seekers in EU Member States to respond to an asylum decision before they must appeal to the court.
• The Dutch government plans to abolish the preliminary decision procedure.

EMN Publication

• Compilation of answers from 22 EU Member States and EMN observer countries to the ad hoc query (pdf), December 2025

EMN Netherlands Publication

• News item, ‘The Netherlands is one of four EU Member States with a preliminary decision procedure’, 5 February 2026

*An ad-hoc query (AHQ) is an EMN tool used to gather information on migration and asylum policies in EU Member States and EMN observer countries.