Dublin Regulation
The country that will examine your application is determined through a process established by a European Union law known as the Dublin Regulation. According to this law, only one country is responsible to examine one’s application.
The Dublin Regulation establishes a set of criteria to determine which country is responsible for examining an application for international protection. According to these criteria, you could be transferred to another European Member State or Schengen Associated Country, hereinafter referred to as ‘Dublin countries’, if:
- You are an unaccompanied minor whose family member, sibling or relative, as defined in the Dublin Regulation, is/are residing in one of the Dublin countries.
- You have a family member, as defined in the Dublin Regulation, who has been granted international protection in another Dublin country.
- You have a family member, as defined in the Dublin Regulation, who has made an application for international protection in another Dublin country and is still waiting for his/her first instance decision.
- You are currently in possession of a valid visa or residence permit issued by another Dublin country.
- You are in possession of a residence permit that expired within the last two years or a visa that expired within the last six months issued by one of the Dublin countries.
- You irregularly entered in another Dublin country before arriving in Malta.
- You legally entered a Dublin country where you were not required to apply for a visa, unless your need to have a visa for entry into Maltese territory is also waived.
- You made an application for international protection in the transit area of an airport located in another Dublin country.
The Dublin Regulation is applied in a geographical region which includes 31 countries, called “Dublin countries”. These are:
Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), Croatia (HR), Cyprus (CY), Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Estonia (ET), Finland (FI), France (FR), Germany (DE), Greece (EL), Hungary (HU), Ireland (IE), Italy (IT), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), The Netherlands (NL), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovakia (SK), Slovenia (SI), Spain (ES), Sweden (SE); Iceland (IS), Liechtenstein (LI), Norway (NO) and Switzerland (CH).
If you would like to get in contact with the Dublin Unit, you may do so by sending an email on dublinunit@ipa.gov.mt
Dublin Booklets
For further information on the
Dublin Regulation, please refer to
this booklet
