No decisions on asylum applications by people from Lebanon for the time being

The war between Israel and Hezbollah has been escalating for several weeks, and Lebanon is also involved in the wider regional conflict between Israel and the United States on the one hand and Iran on the other. Due to the rapidly developing situation in Lebanon, it is currently unclear how long the current uncertainty will continue, if further escalations will occur, or what effect the regional conflict will have on the situation in Lebanon. As a result, it is impossible to make careful and well-considered decisions on applications submitted by asylum seekers from Lebanon. This has prompted the Minister to introduce a six-month moratorium on decisions and departures.
Under this moratorium, the IND will temporarily suspend the processing of asylum applications submitted by people from Lebanon. These are mainly Lebanese nationals and stateless Palestinians whose country of habitual residence is Lebanon. During the six-month moratorium, rejected applicants will not be forcibly returned to Lebanon.
 

Decision and departure moratorium

A decision and departure moratorium means that decisions on asylum applications are temporarily put on hold.  The minister can introduce such a moratorium when a conflict breaks out somewhere in the world and the situation in a country becomes temporarily too uncertain.
During a decision moratorium, the IND does not reject pending applications, grant residence permits or take new applications from this group into consideration. The maximum decision period can be extended up to 21 months. It is not possible to extend the decision period beyond that.
During the departure moratorium, the Repatriation and Departure Service (DT&V) will not return unsuccessful asylum seekers to the country where the conflict is taking place.
 

Exceptions

The decision and departure moratorium does not apply to, among others, foreign nationals who have previously been registered in another European country (Dublin claimants), those who already enjoy international protection in another EU Member State, or cases involving public order or Article 1F. It also does not apply to family reunification applications.