The appointment process mandates a de facto detention period of maximum 25 days in order for the procedure to be completed, restricting the freedom of movement of those who have registered for asylum. Pursuant to Article 8 of the EU Reception Conditions Directive (RCD), Member States ‘shall not hold a person in detention for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant for international protection’.283 Despite this, the new platform uses de facto detention as the status quo for the registration of an asylum application, violating the RCD’s conditions of exceptional implementation. During this de facto detention period, asylum seekers complete their asylum interview and wait for the first instance decision on their case. In addition, there have been reports of an irregular distribution of appointments and extensive delays of appointment dates, with several appointments being assigned over twelve months after the initial preregistration application was submitted.284 In many cases, appointments were not available at all, further highlighting the lack of capacity of the facilities and resources available, forcing people to remain undocumented for extensive periods of time, without basic medical care, accommodation or essential services. Consequently, the issues that existed during the previous Skype pre-registration system persist, where people are forced into a legal limbo without any official documentation or legal status and remain unsupported by appropriate structures to provide for their essential needs. 3.3 Access to the procedure from administrative detention Access to the asylum procedure for individuals detained for the purpose of removal is highly problematic. The application of a detained person having expressed his or her wish to apply for asylum is registered with delay. The person remains detained between the expression of the intention to seek asylum and the registration of the application, by virtue of a removal order. He is deprived of any of the procedural guarantees provided to asylum seekers,285 despite the fact that according to Greek law, any individual who expresses the intention to lodge an application for international protection is an asylum seeker. Since the waiting period between expression of intention and registration is not counted in the Duration of Detention, asylum seekers may be detained for a total period exceeding the maximum detention time limit for asylum seekers.286 The findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2019 are still valid:287 ‘many detainees did not understand their right to apply for asylum and the corresponding procedure, with some individuals incorrectly believing that the process was initiated when they were fingerprinted. There was no established scheme for providing legal aid during the firstinstance asylum application, and interpretation was not consistently provided, with asylum seekers relying on second-hand information from fellow applicants. The Working Group was informed that no information was provided by the police to detainees on their right to apply for international protection or on the procedural stages, and that such information was provided by non-governmental actors only.” The time period between the expression of intention to apply for asylum and the registration varies depending on the circumstances of each case, and in particular, the capacity of the competent authority, the availability of interpretation, and the number of people wishing to apply for asylum from detention. 283 284 285 286 287 Article 8 (1) RCD GCR, Oxfam, Save the Children, Greece // Bimonthly Bulletin on Refugees and Migrants, October 2022, available at: https://bit.ly/3BQxgSE. Global Detention Project & Greek Council for Refugees, Joint Submission to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Preparation for its Mission to Greece in December 2019, Submitted in October 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/2TRYmna. Communication from the UNHCR in the M.S.S. and Rahimi groups v. Greece (Applications No.30696/09, 8687/08), 15 May 2019, available at: https://bit.ly/3N7B740. Report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Visit to Greece 2 - 13 December 2019, A/HRC/45/16/Add.1, 29 July 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3dPiHSX, paras 61-62. 68