The Refugee Commissioner has accepted a recommendation by the Ombudsman that immigrants should have access to their case files.

The case followed a request by an immigrant, assisted by the Jesuit Refugee Service, who asked the Ombudsman to investigate the decision of the Refugee Commissioner that an immigrant or his legal representative could not access his case file except for the purposes of lodging an appeal from a decision of the Commissioner that he was not entitled to international protection or to make a subsequent application.

The Ombudsman said that present procedures denying irregular immigrants access to their files in certain circumstances, do not fully conform with the requisites of due process that constitutes the fundamental right to a fair hearing.The text of the Ombudsman’s recommendations and the Refugee Commissioner’s reply will accessible on www.ombudsman.org.mt