1. An accompanied minor shall have the right to lodge an application in his or her own name where he or she has legal capacity in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned. Where the accompanied minor does not have legal capacity in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned, a parent or another adult, such as a legal caregiver or child protection services, responsible for the minor, whether by the law or practice of the Member State concerned, shall lodge the application on the minor’s behalf.
2. In the case of an accompanied minor who does not have legal capacity in accordance with the national law of the Member State concerned and who is present at the moment the parent or another adult responsible for him or her whether by the law or practice of the Member State concerned makes or lodges the application for international protection on the territory of the same Member State, in particular if such minor does not have any other legal means of staying on the territory of that same Member State, the making and lodging of an application by a parent or another adult responsible for him or her whether by the law or practice of the Member State concerned shall also be considered to be the making and lodging of an application for international protection on behalf of the minor.
Member States may decide to apply the first subparagraph also in the case of an accompanied minor who is born or who is present during the administrative procedure.
3. Where the parent or adult responsible for the accompanied minor referred to in paragraph 2 lodges the application on behalf of the minor, the minor shall be present for the lodging of the application, except where there are justified reasons for which the minor is unable or unfit to be present or, where such a possibility is provided for in national law, the application on behalf of the minor is lodged by means of a form.
Correlation table