Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy
Open Access

Asylum procedure as a stress factor in European countries: How uncertainty, de-individuality, and conditionality create stress

World Congress on Stress and Anxiety

July 06, 2022 | Webinar

Ahmad AL Ajlan

Bielefeld University, Germany

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother

Abstract :

Based on my experience as a displaced person and a researcher in forced migration studies in this presentation I will show how asylum seekers in some European countries are forced to be subjected to an asylum process that creates a lot of stress in their lives. The asylum procedure for many asylum seekers, especially regarding those from countries classified by the asylum law in some European countries as “safe”, is mainly characterized by uncertainty, de-individuality, and conditionality. I will explain how those three main characteristics are embodied in the life of asylum seekers through; First, forcing them to live in unhomely collective accommodations that lacks the basic characteristics of the home namely the privacy and autonomy. Second, the ambiguity and complexity of the asylum law make many of them uncertain about the result of their asylum application and whether they will be granted asylum in the end or not. In addition, they are often uncertain whether the kind of the asylum protection that is provided to them will enable them to reunite with their families or not. Third, after granting them asylum usually asylum seekers' ways toward permanent residency and the citizenship of their host country are unclear. Mostly permanent residency and the citizenship of their host country are conditional on a high level of language and work for years, which can be hard to be achieved by some groups of them, such as older-age refugees and those with health problems.

Biography :

Ahmad Al Ajlan is a Syrian sociologist; in 2010 he got his Ph.D. from Damascus University. Currently he is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Conflict and Violence Research at Bielefeld University. Al Ajlan published several peer- reviewed papers covered many aspects of refugees’ life in Germany and other European countries.