Authority rejected the appeal of an asylum applicant who had left Türkiye and stayed in Greece for one year minus six days from the date of the Appeals Authority's decision.564 Moreover, it has been observed that stateless persons who had one of the 5 countries of the JMD on STC as their country of former habitual residence continued to be included in the admissibility procedure in 2024.565 This practice applied despite the fact that this category of asylum applicants is not explicitly mentioned in the relevant JMD designating Türkiye as an STC. In this context, Palestinians with last habitual residence in Syria were examined under the admissibility procedure. According to observations made by legal aid organisations, including GCR, in practice, in 2024, applicants from Syria and Afghanistan who had an admissibility interview and their applications were found admissible did not undergo an in-merits interview. Instead, their asylum applications were examined on the basis of their administrative file and, in general, were accepted. The Asylum Service notified applicants directly of their positive decisions with reference to their admissibility decisions. This did not apply to applicants from Somalia, who, after the admissibility interview, were notified of the decision on the admissibility interview, and in the case of a positive result were invited to the interview on the merits. The practice with regard to the examination of the applications of Syrian asylum seekers changed after the fall of the Assad regime on the 8th of December 2024. The Governmental Council for Foreign Affairs and Defence, aligning with similar decisions made by other European governments, suspended the issuance of asylum decisions for Syrian nationals. As a result, applicants who had successfully completed an admissibility interview by December 8, but had not yet received a decision, were required to undergo an interview on the merits. Applicants who had not yet undergone an admissibility interview participated in a merged interview, covering both admissibility and merits. 566 In all cases, no decisions were issued (see Differential treatment of specific nationalities in the procedure). As in previous years, the use of outdated sources in a number of decisions concerning in particular cases falling under the safe third country concept vis-à-vis Türkiye, continued to be an issue during 2024. Indicative examples concern the use of the 2019 and 2020 updates of the AIDA country report on Türkiye, other reports published in 2017 and 2018, and letters sent by the Permanent Delegation of Türkiye to the European Commission and by the European Commission to the Greek General Secretary of Migration Policy in April and May 2016 in the context of the EU-Turkey Statement.567 3.3. Appeal Indicators: Admissibility Procedure: Appeal Same as regular procedure 1. Does the law provide for an appeal against an inadmissibility decision? Yes No ❖ If yes, is it Judicial Administrative ❖ If yes, is it automatically suspensive Yes Some grounds No According to the Asylum Code, the deadlines for appealing an inadmissibility decision, the automatic suspensive effect of appeals and the format of the Committee examining them depend on the inadmissibility ground invoked in the first instance decision under the regular procedure:568 Time limits and automatic suspensive effect: Appeals against inadmissibility Ground Deadline (days) Suspensive Format Protection in another EU Member State 20 × Single judge Dublin 15 √ Single judge First country of asylum 20 × Collegial 564 565 566 567 568 Case represented by GCR before the Kos Asylum Services and the Appeals Authorities. Information shared by different actors, including GCR, during Legal Aid Working Group meetings, 2023. Indicative Press Releases : Naftemporiki, Το ΚΥΣΕA αποφασίζει για τους Σύρους πρόσφυγες – Στην ατζέντα το «πάγωμα» αιτημάτων ασύλου, 13 December 2024, Naftemporiki, available at: https://tinyurl.com/37zyhf7k. As evidenced by decisions received by GCR’s beneficiaries. See also PROASYL & RSA, The Concept of “Safe Third Country”: Legal Standards & Implementation in the Greek Asylum System, February 2024, available here, p. 10. Article 97(d). It should be noted that the deadline for appealing against decisions issued under the provision of Article 95 Asylum Code (border procedure) is 10 days. 109