About 16,500 Albanians sought asylum in Europe and Britain in the first 6 months of 2023

2023-09-06 16:32:06, Aktualitet CNA

About 16,500 Albanians sought asylum in Europe and Britain in the first 6 months

About 16,500 Albanian citizens sought asylum in the countries of the European Union and Great Britain in the first half of this year.

According to the report of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), published on Wednesday, in the period January-June 2023, 4779 requests for asylum were submitted by Albanian citizens in the countries of the European Union, 3602 of which for the first time .

According to the European Agency for Asylum, 3444 applications made and during other years are waiting to be examined, while from 4642 decisions given, the rate of positive decisions is very low for Albanian citizens and does not exceed 1%.

While according to the British authorities in England, 11,790 applications for asylum were submitted by Albanian citizens for the first 6 months of this year.

The trend of asylum applications of Albanians continues to remain very high compared not only to the countries of the region, but also beyond.

The data of the first half of this year show the highest numbers of Albanian asylum applications compared to recent years.

About 16,500 Albanians sought asylum in Europe and Britain in the first 6 months

Immigrants at ports of entry to Britain

According to the data of the European Asylum Agency, in 2022, 13,043 applications for asylum from Albanian citizens were registered in the countries of the European Union, from 11,210 that were registered in 2021 and 6,498 in 2020.

The first half of this year has witnessed a large shift of Albanian asylum requests from Europe to Great Britain.

According to the data of the British immigration authorities, Albanians in England rank first in asylum requests for the first half of this year, thus surpassing citizens from Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, according to the European Asylum Agency, during the first half of 2023, a total of 519,000 asylum applications were submitted in the countries of the European Union, with an increase of 28% compared to the first half of 2022.

"Based on current trends, applications may exceed 1 million by the end of 2023," says the Agency's report.

"Many EU countries are under pressure to process applications and protect people in need, as the number of cases awaiting decisions has increased by 34% by 2022," the report says.

According to the Agency, in addition, there are also about 4 million Ukrainians who fled the Russian occupation, who currently benefit from Temporary Protection.

The European Asylum Agency says that these parallel trends present significant challenges for asylum authorities and reception systems in the European Union and until June 2023, it was offering operational assistance to 13 member states./ VOA