Humanitarian Visa
A humanitarian visa is a visa that is granted on humanitarian grounds. The regulations on humanitarian visas differ from state to state.
Switzerland
A humanitarian visa ( visa for humanitarian reasons ) for Switzerland can be granted at Swiss diplomatic missions abroad if it can be clearly assumed in individual cases that the applicant is in direct, serious and specific danger to life and limb. The application must be submitted to a Swiss embassy in your own country of origin: If the person is already in a safe third country, it is usually assumed that there is no longer any risk. In May 2018, UNHCR criticized the fact that this would in principle exclude persecuted or otherwise endangered persons from humanitarian visas if they are in a country in which there is no Swiss representation, such as Eritrea, or if they have been temporarily closed for security reasons, such as Syria.
In the past, Swiss asylum law also offered the option of applying for asylum in Switzerland from abroad by submitting an asylum application to the Swiss diplomatic missions abroad ("embassy procedure"). This was abolished on September 28, 2012. The possibility of applying for a humanitarian visa remained.
European Union
The law of the European Union does not provide humanitarian visa.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in March 2017 that the EU member states are not obliged to issue humanitarian visas in their foreign embassies. The applicants plan to stay in Belgium for more than 90 days. EU states are also not obliged to accept all people who have gone through a catastrophic situation. Rather, the member states are free to issue their entry visas according to national regulations.
The Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi had previously argued that the Member States are required to award a humanitarian visa if the risk of a breach of Art. 4 (prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) and / or Art. 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights ( Right to asylum).
In the run-up to the decision of the ECJ, the case was also heavily discussed politically. Individual German politicians had welcomed Mengozzi’s statement, others spoke of the asylum system being overburdened and emphasized that local aid in the region must have priority in the event of humanitarian emergencies. The Federal Government stated in a statement that the (emergency) visa with geographically limited validity provided for in Article 25 of the EU Visa Code does not extend to people who intend to apply for international protection, as the application of these people is for a longer-term one Stay directed.
Other states and regions
For Canada , it is possible to apply for admission as a quota refugee or asylum seeker from outside Canada if certain humanitarian criteria are met and other requirements are met - including, for example, financial sponsorship by an organization or a group of five Canadians or residents of Canada. It is also possible to register as a sponsor. The number of refugees who can be accepted in this way is limited. For example, Canada set an upper limit of 1,000 privately sponsored refugees from Syria and Iraq for 2017.
There are certain types of humanitarian visa in Australia , including: a. a special Humanitarian Program Visa (SHP ) for a victim of serious human rights violations supported by a person residing permanently in Australia .
Some states offer the possibility of applying for admission to a resettlement program or admission as a quota refugee .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Instructions to the Swiss diplomatic missions abroad and the responsible migration authorities of the cantons, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the cities of Bern, Biel and Thun, No. 322.126: Visa application for humanitarian reasons. State Secretariat for Migration SEM, Bern-Wabern, February 25, 2014 (as of August 30, 2016), accessed on June 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Humanitarian visa and travel documents for refugees and stateless persons. In: UNHCR recommendations on the draft amendments to the Ordinance on Entry and the Issuing of Visas (VEV), Ordinance on the Issuance of Travel Documents for Foreigners (RDV). UNHCR Office for Switzerland and Liechtenstein (www.unhcr.ch), May 2018, accessed on June 3, 2018 . Pp. 4-5.
- ↑ AS 2012 (2012-2415), pp 5359-5364
- ↑ ECJ, AZ: C-638/16 PPU. Quoted from: No “humanitarian visas” in EU embassies abroad. FAZ, March 7, 2017, accessed on June 3, 2018 .
- ↑ ECJ ruling EU states do not have to issue “humanitarian visas”. In: Spiegel online. March 7, 2017, accessed June 3, 2018 .
- ^ Opinion of Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi of 7 February 2017, Case C ‑ 638/16 PPU.
- ↑ EU lawyer wants humanitarian visas for refugees - expert: "Then a bomb explodes". In: Focus. February 8, 2017, accessed June 3, 2018 .
- ^ Jost Müller-Neuhof: Federal government rejects humanitarian visas for refugees. In: Tagesspiegel. March 1, 2017, accessed June 3, 2018 .
- ^ Resettlement from outside Canada. (No longer available online.) In: Immigration and citizenship. Government of Canada, archived from the original on May 5, 2015 ; accessed on June 3, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Sponsor a refugee. In: Immigration and citizenship. Government of Canada, accessed June 3, 2018 .
- ↑ Rachel Marsden: Canada: The (Almost) Better America. In: www.euractiv.de. February 14, 2017, accessed January 13, 2019 .
