One of the first needs of those who arrive in Italy seeking protection is to be listened to, a need as pressing as eating or being treated medically. The procedure for obtaining recognized refugee status is complex, and it is important to start off on the right foot. As Italy continues to be the only country in the European Union that does not yet have a law on asylum, maneuvering among the few existing norms and the many bureaucratic obstacles becomes complicated. Correct information is always communicated through a relationship of trust, built up through conversation after conversation with specialized staff.

Two of the priorities around which Jesuit Refugee Service was founded are “accompanying” refugees and defending their rights. From this point of view, the Centro d’Ascolto (Advising Center) and the Legal Counseling and Orientation service give meaning to all the other services of JRS and Centro Astalli. Even as all kinds of emergencies arise, the challenge of these services is to succeed in carving out a little bit of quality time for each individual, enough to completely understand the needs of each person and to make them feel welcomed. For first conversations on social orientation, and for emergencies, the office is open every afternoon in the same location as the soup kitchen. For successive interactions, immigrants take appointments instead at the location in Via del Collegio Romano.

There at this second office, legal orientation is directed and asylum seekers are prepared for their interview with the Commission. Here also begins the process of guiding asylum seekers on their course of obtaining protection status in Italy, from deciphering difficult forms to inevitable delays and hitches. An extremely precious resource to this service is the voluntary contribution of lawyers that intervene where it becomes necessary to follow a procedure to court; for example, in the case of recourse against the denial of refugee status.

After a few months of interrupted service, in 2010 the staff of the Centro d’Ascolto was able to renew their commitment to assuring their presence at the temporary permanence center of Ponte Galeria in Rome, work that had initially begun in 2006. For detained foreigners, the weekly presence of Center Astalli at this center has become an important benchmark.