Almost 5500 Albanians have requested asylum for 9 months, they are fleeing to Ireland

2024-12-18 13:52:00, Sociale CNA

Almost 5500 Albanians have requested asylum for 9 months, they are fleeing to

Although a large part of those who want to leave are trying to do so through employment contracts, there are still Albanian citizens who are trying to leave through asylum applications.

Eurostat announced that for the period January-September 2024, in the 27 countries of the European Union, there were a total of 5485 applications for asylum from Albanian citizens.

Compared to the same period a year ago, asylum applications have fallen by almost 20%.

While the emigration channel through asylum applications has decreased, the trend is towards emigration with a work permit. Other Eurostat data revealed that the number of first-time residence permits granted by EU countries to Albanian citizens who want to work has increased significantly since the pandemic.

Applications by country

In 2022, the highest record level was reached, at least since 2013 when the data is reported, at 21 thousand. In 2023, 17.6 thousand permits were issued. While asylum applications in 2023 were about 9.1 thousand.

For the period January-September 2024, France has continued to be the country that hosts the largest applications, with 31% of the total.

Italy came in second place, with 25%, relegating Germany to third place with 20% of applications for the 9-month period.

Greece continues to have requests from asylum seekers, with 14% of the total.

After Greece, Belgium is ranked, with 5%.

A destination that is being attempted recently is Ireland, where on average there are 15-20 applications per month, or 125 for the 9-month period, with an increase of 13% compared to the same period a year ago. Ireland is the only one that has seen an increase in applications, unlike other countries where there has been a decrease.

europe

In Europe, in September of this year, 75,755 non-EU citizens applied for asylum for the first time, a decrease of 24 percent compared to September of 2023, Eurostat reports.

Also, 6,360 repeat applications were registered, representing a 13 percent increase compared to the same period a year ago.

Syrians remained the largest group of people seeking asylum in September (14,205 first applicants), followed by Venezuelans (5,480), Afghans (4,950) and Turks (4,455).

Germany (18,105), Spain (12,510), Italy (11,895) and France (11,535) continued to receive the highest number of first-time asylum applications, accounting for 71% of all initial EU asylum applications.

The total rate of first-time asylum applications in the EU in September 2024 was 16.9 for every 100 thousand people.

Compared to the population of each EU country (on 1 January 2024), the highest rates were recorded in Greece (66.0), followed by Cyprus (31.9).

A total of 2,950 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in the EU for the first time, most of them coming from Syria (975) and Afghanistan (380).

The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors was Germany (715), followed by the Netherlands (410), Bulgaria (340), Spain (320) and Greece (315)./ Monitor Magazine