The Ministry of Justice has implemented the residence status restriction policy that refuses to extend residence status, orders departure and only delays the departure date for certain cases, such as reapplying for refugee status, applying for refugee status after staying as a foreign worker or an international student, and reapplying after residence status has expired. Through this, reapplications have been suppressed and uniformly branded as “abusive refugee applicants for the purpose of extending their stay.” In addition, according to the recently released refugee status management guidelines, if you reapply for refugee status, you will be refused to extend your residence status and only the departure will be delayed.
However, only 32 people were recognized for refugee status through refugee screening in 2021, and the refugee recognition rate in 2021 was mere 1%. The refugee recognition rate in Korea is seriously low every year. Due to significantly low refugee recognition rate, insufficient refugee screening capabilities, inadequate procedural guarantees and instructions for systematic poor screening, most refugee applicants are not recognized and have no choice but to apply for refugee status again.
Nevertheless, the damage caused by the policy of restricting residence status just because of the fact that reapplication is made is borne by reapplicants themselves. Due to the residence status guidelines that refuse to extend residence status, withdraw alien registration cards, and only delay the departure date, refugee reapplicants are virtually deprived of all their rights and exist as non-people. An order to stop delaying departure and to leave the country can be issued any time, and you may be detained after a given deadline. You have to extend the departure date every two to three months, which makes your unregistered status all the more unstable, if not so-called “illegal stay,” and wait for a long period of two to three years for refugee screening.
Since residence status is revoked, it is not possible to obtain a work permit. Article 44 of the Refugee Act stipulates that employment permits can be granted even if a person who has not been recognized as a refugee or a person whose recognition as a refugee has been cancelled applies again without significant changes in circumstances. Nevertheless, the authorities are holding on to the position that it is impossible to grant work permit because refugee reapplicants cannot obtain residence status, illegally blocking the way to earn a living through employment.
You cannot go to the hospital even if you are sick because you are not qualified to stay. You have to bear enormous hospital bills and drug costs, and even if you try to use the hospital with the burden of excessive hospital expenses, you may be denied medical treatment while the hospital requires an ID card. And you can’t open a cell phone in your name. Banking is also impossible. Even if you have money in your account, you will not be able to withdraw money because you don’t have an ID card. It is always necessary to explain why there is no alien registration card and what status they are in, which virtually no one understands.
Due to the Ministry of Justice’s residence status restriction policy, refugee applicants are in a position where managing a life as a human being is impossible in Korea. This violates the principle of prohibition of forced repatriation and violates the Refugee Convention and other international guidelines that require the issuance of ID cards to refugee applicants and the guarantee of basic right to survival. Under the Constitution of the Republic of Korea, it is unconstitutional to deprive humans of their right to dignity.
The court also concluded in several cases that the decision to refuse to extend the residence status is illegal because there are large disadvantages for refugee reapplicants who are placed in a precarious position without any valid residence status. On June 17, 2022, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea advised the Minister of Justice to issue a document that proves the identity of refugee reapplicants and to put into place a procedure that guarantees basic livelihood and allows work permit when the screening period is inevitably prolonged. The UNHCR also stressed in December 2021 that delayed refugee applications are not abusive or false in nature and said asylum seekers should be issued a certificate while reapplications are reviewed and minimum living standards should be secured, including access to the labor market.
It is unfair and illegal for the Ministry of Justice, which made the wrong step in the first place with incompetent screening, to frame refugee applicants as abusers of the system with a view to restricting their residence status with the aid of guidelines and to force them to leave the country. The Ministry of Justice should discard the residence status restriction policy that violates refugee reapplicants’ right to survival right now. Stop stigmatizing refugee applicants and have a proper refugee screening system first. Restore the rights of asylum seekers as soon as possible and ensure a humane life.
