Albanians rank after Ukrainians in 2023 for refusing to join the EU

2024-05-14 15:11:00, Aktualitet CNA

Albanians rank second after Ukrainians in the number of people who have been denied entry into the European Union in 2023.

According to the latest data of the European Statistics Agency, EUROSTAT, 13,845 Albanians were not allowed to enter European countries last year, while the list is headed by Ukrainians with 18,325 people.

Next, in the list of citizens who have been refused entry to the European Union, there are Moldovans with 9,795 people, Russians with 8,255 people and Turks with 7,365 people.

According to EUROSTAT, a total of 118,935 citizens from countries outside the European Union were refused entry at one of the European external borders in 2023, a decrease of 16.5% compared to 2022.

Citizens of Albania rank first with 4,780 people in the list of the 20 main countries of citizenship in terms of refusal of passage to European countries through air borders during 2023, followed by citizens of Colombia with 3,315 people and Georgia with 2,925 people.

While from the land borders, 7860 Albanians have been refused entry, while at the top of the list are the Ukrainians with 16940 people.

The majority of Albanian citizens have been refused entry to the Greek and Italian as well as Croatian land borders.

During the year 2023, Greece refused entry to 4025 Albanians, followed by Italy which refused entry to 3380 Albanians and Croatia to 1765 Albanians.

The European Statistics Agency also provides data related to citizens staying illegally in the European Union, where Albanians are numerous in several European countries.

According to EUROSTAT data, 33,245 citizens from Albania were identified as having an illegal stay in 2023 in European countries from the 38,300 that were identified in 2022.

Albanian citizens have been traveling without visas in the European Union since December 2010, but in the cases of discovery "as illegal" by the authorities of a European Union country, they have violated the three-month stay period in the countries of the "Schengen" area, or have carried out actions outside the tourist visa program.

According to reports on migration in the countries of the European Union, the activities of persons from the countries of the Western Balkans, including Albania, which are of concern are mainly related to employment, employment or self-employment, at a time when the conditions for short-term visits are not allow such a thing. /VOA