Knocking at the Gate - Flawed Access to the Asylum System due to the influx of applicants from the Ukraine and Georgia

"I don’t understand how a country can be run like this, I tried to apply for asylum and was thrown in jail with no explanation. There’s no attempt to help me, just to make me fail".

Since the start of 2016, Israel has seen a sharp rise in the number of Ukrainian and Georgian citizens applying for asylum. Data collected by the Hotline for Refugees and Migrant (HRM) shows that Israeli entities are involved in the increase in the number of migrants from these countries, and that they include human resource companies, which spread misinformation in the countries of origin about working legally in Israel by exploiting the dysfunctional2 asylum system. They charge high fees for mediation and are allegedly involved in selling fake documents. The emerging picture is that of a new channel of human trafficking.

Due to the backlog at the Population and Immigration Authority’s (PIBA) Refugee Status Determination (RSD) Unit in Tel Aviv, all asylum seekers now face limited access to the asylum process. Despite the extended period during which the authorities have had to serve an ever growing population, the necessary changes have yet to be made. Every night, dozens of people wait outside the offices of the RSD Unit in harsh physical conditions hoping to be first in the queue the following morning in order to submit their asylum application.