When Muzain's asylum request was rejected in Luxembourg, he saw the Channel crossing as a last resort. Lëtzebuerger Journal met him in Luxembourg and traveled to Calais to retrace his steps and understand the dangers people expose themselves to in their pursuit for protection.
Regardless of the reason why, most asylum seekers in Europe have left behind their families, their friends and their belongings; they took upon themselves a long, frightening and often-life-threatening journey to Europe; they reached an EU country, which welcomed them more often than not with closed arms; they disclosed their deepest fears to foreign governments when lodging an application for international protection; they did all of this with the hope of eventually starting their life anew – and then, they wait, sometimes for up to two years for a response by the government. Muzain* (*name changed for anonymity) had been waiting for a reply to his application for around two years. He then got the letter which crushed his hopes.
When your international protection gets denied
In 2024, 502 people got their application refused in Luxembourg, which amounts to around 36 per cent of all processed applications. From January until May 2025, already 221 applications were refused (around 30 per cent of all processed applications). Marion Dubois from the human rights association Passerell explains that applicants usually get informed by letter. If it is a recognition of international protection, the letter is a quick French read of one page. If it is a rejection of the application, it is a nine to fifteen page-long explanation of the decision, again written in French. The government also adds information about voluntary returns. Interestingly, the information about voluntary returns is the only part which is translated to the assumed language of the application. Muzain’s letter was not fully in French, so he quickly understood what the decision was.
Depending on the rejection, an applicant has between 15 days to one month to appeal the decision by the government or to leave the country. Muzain appealed his case, knowing that this might take another year and a half to be processed by the court. Asylum seekers can do up to three appeals. The success rate of such appeals, in 2024, was under 2 per cent.
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