How should you challenge a negative asylum decision or any other decision issued by the Police and Border Guard Board?
If you consider that a decision of the Police and Border Guard Board violates your rights, you can appeal it to the Administrative Court using the procedure provided in the Code of Administrative Court Procedure.
Deadline
A decision on the rejection of an application or revocation of international protection may be contested in the Administrative Court within ten days of the announcement of the decision. All administrative acts must contain a reference to the deadline and the procedure for challenging it.
Fees
Appeals submitted to the Administrative Court are subject to a state fee of 15 EUR, as well as any costs essential to proceedings, such as interpretation costs. However, if you cannot afford these costs, you may submit an application for procedural assistance in addition to the appeal.
Content of the appeal
The Code of Administrative Court Procedure provides instructions on the content of the appeal and the information that needs to be included. The appeal must be submitted in Estonian. In order to be able to follow the requirements of the appeal procedure, asylum-seekers have the right to free state legal aid. Read about how to apply for state legal aid for your appeal proceedings.
After the judgment
If the appeal is successful, the Administrative Court will send the case back to the Police and Border Guard Board to review the application. If the appeal is unsuccessful, you have the option to appeal the judgment of the Administrative Court to the Circuit Court within 30 days. If the Circuit Court also rejects your appeal, you may appeal to the Supreme Court within 30 days.
After the judgment of the Supreme Court, you may have the option to submit an application to the European Court of Human Rights. For example, if your expulsion would result in a violation of the prohibition on torture. In the field of asylum law, the European Court of Human Rights has emphasised that it does not examine the actual asylum application. Its main concern is whether effective guarantees exist that protect the applicant against arbitrary expulsion.
Read more about how to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.