The interviews were conducted in-person in Athens and over the phone, with questions covering access to the asylum procedure and reception conditions, the reception and identification procedure, and the conditions within the mainland RICs, including access to information, legal support, and provision of dignified living conditions. The inclusion of respondents from countries of origin deemed safe by Greek law (Egypt, Pakistan, and Algeria in our sample) was important as applicants who are single men from these countries may undergo an accelerated procedure including their full asylum interview within the mainland RICs, raising specific concerns regarding fair and equal access to asylum. Most respondents (74%) registered at Malakasa RIC, and hence our report is able to offer a more complete picture of the situation there compared with Diavata. We interviewed 19 people aged between 22 and 55 from the following countries of origin: Finally, our research was limited by the restricted access to RICs for civil society organisations (CSOs) which are not on the MoMA’s NGO Members Registry and the lack of publicly available information published by the MoMA regarding the procedure. This was further exacerbated by inconsistencies and frequent changes in the authorities’ practices since September 2022, which resulted in confusion for both interview participants and practitioners in the field. The research is not representative of all asylum seekers’ experiences in Greece. People exempt from the reception and identification procedure, such as unaccompanied minors, people detained in pre-removal detention facilities and prisons, those who have previously been identified by a Greek public authority, and people submitting a subsequent application for asylum are not represented in the interview sample group. Moreover, the research does not cover the experiences of people who undergo screening and registration in Fylakio RIC, located in the Evros region. People registering at Malakasa and Diavata may have been in the Greek territory for months or years prior to their appointment, in contrast to Fylakio RIC where the population is primarily asylum seekers apprehended shortly after crossing the land border with Turkey. While the report covers policy changes impacting applicants living on the mainland as well as Crete and Rhodes, only one respondent was living on Crete and none on Rhodes. 11

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