2. ASYLUM CLAIMS AT THE BORDER An asylum application is a manifestation of will, expressed in writing or orally before the competent authorities, which shows that a form of international protection is required in the territory of a State. The very declaration of the fear of returning to the country of origin on grounds of persecution - is the request for a form of international protection on the territory of a state. The basic legislative act on asylum, which also regulates the application for asylum at the border, is Law no. 270 on asylum in the Republic of Moldova, of December 18, 2008. Other normative acts regulate the status of identity documents with which the beneficiaries of international protection are documented - Law no. 273 regarding the identity documents from the national passport system, from November 9, 1994 and the Government Decision no. 626 of 28 June 2005 on the identity documents of refugees. Law no. 270 on asylum in the Republic of Moldova establishes the legal framework for foreign citizens, stateless persons and beneficiaries of protection in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the procedure for granting, refusing or revoking protection. Based on the legislative provisions, the competent authorities must ensure access to the territory of the Republic of Moldova for each foreign citizen at the border from the moment the foreigner has expressed in writing or verbally his will to enter the country to request protection. The law also regulates the principle of nonrefoulement, according to which no asylum seeker or beneficiary of any form of protection may be returned or expelled from the border or from the territory of the Republic of Moldova, without a proper examination of the circumstances, in order to determine whether he/she faces the risk of persecution. In the Republic of Moldova, asylum - is a legal institution, through which the State offers protection to foreigners, granting him/her one of the following forms of protection:  - refugee status - is granted upon request to a foreigner who, by virtue of a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of which he/she is a national he/she owns it and cannot or, because of this fear, does not want to put himself/herself under the protection of this country. Acts of persecution can be: acts of physical and mental violence, including those of sexual violence; legal, administrative, police and / or judicial measures which are discriminatory or which are applied in a discriminatory manner; discriminatory or disproportionate accusation or punishment; the impossibility of retrial as a result of a discriminatory or disproportionate sentence; 21