Immigration accelerates again/Asylum applications in November, the highest since March

2024-02-20 12:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

Immigration accelerates again/Asylum applications in November, the highest since

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The winter months marked an acceleration of the emigration trend in 2023, unlike previous years when there was always a softening of emigration at the end of the year.

The data published by Eurostat on asylum requests from non-EU countries revealed that in November 880 asylum requests were registered by Albanian citizens in one of the EU countries. This is the highest figure since March, when a total of 910 requests were registered.

As can be seen from the graph, in previous years, requests for asylum peaked in the summer months, and then fell in October and beyond, but in 2023 the trend has been reversed. In the summer, applications fell, to increase again in September, October, and November.

However, in relation to the year 2022, when the highest level of applications was recorded since 2016, the trend is decreasing. For the period January-November 2023, there were over 8.5 thousand applications, with a decrease of 30% compared to the same period a year ago.

About 80% of requests are new applications, according to Eurostat.

France and Germany continue to remain the main destinations of asylum seekers. For the 11-month period, there were 3.3 thousand applications to France, or almost 40% of the total. France continues to hold the first place because of the most favorable social policies it has for immigrants.

Germany is second, with 2.1 thousand applications, or 24% of the total. However, towards Germany the main trend is to flee with work contracts, not through asylum. Italy continues to remain third, with 1.4 thousand applications, or 17% of the total.

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In November 2023, 108,950 non-EU citizens applied for international protection for the first time in European Union countries, an increase of 11 percent compared to November 2022 (97,800). There were also 6 375 repeat applications, an increase of 3% compared to November 2022 (6 215).

Syrian nationals remained the largest group of asylum seekers

Syrians maintained the same trend as previous months, representing the largest group of people seeking asylum for the first time (23,460 applications). They were followed by Turks (12,870), Afghans (7,930), Venezuelans (6,175) and Colombians (5,445). Germany, Italy, Spain and France and Greece received 82% of all first-time asylum applications

In November 2023, Germany (36,495), Italy (14,160), Spain (14,105), France (14,070) and Greece (10,285) continued to receive the largest number of first-time asylum seekers, accounting for 82 % of all first-time applications in the EU. In November 2023, based on available data, the total number of first-time asylum seekers in the EU was 24.3 per hundred thousand people.

Compared to the population of each EU country (on 1 January 2023), the highest rates of first-time applications in November 2023 were recorded in Cyprus (154.8) and Greece (98.9). 3,510 unaccompanied minors applying for asylum in EU countries

3,510 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in the EU for the first time in November, with the majority coming from Syria (1,230) and Afghanistan (580). The EU countries that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors were Germany (1,365), the Netherlands (615), Italy (315), Greece (305) and Bulgaria (265)./Monitor