Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration

This handbook provides an overview of the law applicable to asylum, border man-agement and immigration in relation to European Union (EU) law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It looks at the situation of those foreigners to whom the EU usually refers as third-country nationals, although that distinction is not relevant to cited ECHR law. This handbook is designed to assist legal practitioners who are not specialised in the field of asylum, borders and immigration law; it is intended for lawyers, judges, prosecutors, border guards, immigration officials and others working with national authorities, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other bodies that may be confronted with legal questions relating to these subjects. It is a first point of reference on both EU and ECHR law related to these subject areas, and explains how each issue is regulated under EU law as well as under the ECHR, the European Social Charter (ESC) and other instruments of the Council of Europe (CoE). Each chapter first presents a single table of the applicable legal provisions under the two sepa-rate European legal systems. Then the relevant laws of these two European orders are presented one after the other as they may apply to each topic. This allows the reader to see where the two legal systems converge and where they differ.

The handbook includes the following chapters:

• Introduction
• Access to the territory and to procedures
• Large-scale EU information technology systems and interoperability
• Status and associated documentation
• Asylum determination and barriers to removal: substantive issues
• Procedural safeguards and legal support in asylum and return cases
• Private and family life and the right to marry
• Detention and restrictions to freedom of movement
• Forced returns and manner of removal
• Economic and social rights
• Persons with specific needs.