first 9 months of their stay.669 For any questions concerning the asylum procedure itself, applicants can contact counselling centers, which are usually located near the reception centers. Counselling centers give free procedural advice for asylum seekers and can recommend a lawyer if needed. After an asylum application is submitted, the applicant will have a personal hearing before an officer from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. There, the applicant has the chance, but also the task and obligation, to present the reasons for applying for asylum and any evidence supporting the claim. He or she must give reasons for leaving their country of origin, the facts of persecution and what he or she would be facing if returned.670 This hearing is mandatory as it forms the basis of the subsequent decision on the asylum application. 3. Refugee Status Determination Process: The Legal Framework There are three different ways for making an asylum claim under German law. First, an asylum seeker may claim status under Article 16a of the German Constitution. To qualify under this article of the German Constitution, the applicant must be claiming asylum based on political persecution, and cannot have entered from a safe third country. Asylum seekers caught at the border without legal documents may be deported to the country from which they entered.671 Additionally, refugee status can be granted under Section 3 of the Asylum Procedure Act (Asylverfahrensgesetz)672 in accordance with Section 60 (1) of the Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz).673 This Act is in conformity with the requirements of the Geneva Convention on Refugees and the Qualification Directive. Finally, the asylum claim includes an application for international subsidiary protection under Section 4 of the Asylum Procedure Act in accordance with Section 60 (2) of the Residence Act, which also is in conformity with the requirements of the Qualification Directive. Under this Section, international subsidiary protection can be granted in line with Article 15 of the Qualification Directive (in accordance with Section 4 of the Asylum Procedure Act), as well as on the basis of a “substantial and concrete danger to life and limb or liberty.” This has been interpreted to mean that an applicant must face “certain death or most serious harm” if forced to return to his or her country of origin.674 669 Ibid., Section 61. Ibid., Section 25. 671 This is true even if they file an asylum application given that the neighboring countries are considered “safe third countries” due to Art. 16a (2) of the German Constitution in accordance with Section 26a of the Asylum Procedure Act. Ibid., Section 26a. 672 Ibid., Section 3. 673 State of Germany, “Residence Act (Aufenthaltsgesetz, AufenthG) [with Amendments],” July 30, 2004, http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/AufenthG.htm, Section 60. 674 European Database of Asylum Law, “EDAL Country Overview - Germany,” accessed November 21, 2014, http://www.asylumlawdatabase.eu/en/content/edal-country-overview-germany. 670 134 Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees