How Albanians are invading Europe with asylum-seekers

Tirana Times
By Tirana Times March 22, 2019 16:39

How Albanians are invading Europe with asylum-seekers

Story Highlights

  • Albanians are the first in the world per number of asylum seeking applications, especially when compared to the number of its population, which has been decreasing through the years.

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TIRANA, March 19- On our last issue we wrote an article regarding data from Eurostat on the number of first-time asylum seekers in Europe for 2018, Albanians amounted to 19 thousand first time applicants. Using the data provided by the European statistics office, economic magazine Monitor has released a report comparing the movement flux of Albanians in the different EU country members.

Most information accounts Germany as the number one country of preference for Albanians, and most asylum seekers from other countries. And that is true, yet data show that lately a significant number of applications for asylum are made in France. This is because the other countries have strengthened their acceptance policies, whereas France has made it relatively easier and offer higher chances to admitting applicants.

For period 2009-2011 in total the number of first-time Albanian asylum applicants was 178,515. This lists Albania as the country in Europe per its high number of asylum seekers according to Eurostat, especially regarding the population ratio. The record was achieved in 2015 with 69 thousand applications, reduced to 33 thousand applications in 2016, and a 26 thousand applied for asylum in 2017. In relation to its population Albania is the first country in the world with the highest number of asylum seekers in EU, surpassing even people escaping countries subsumed in conflicts. According to the Albanian State Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), as of January 2019 the population in Albania was 2,862,427 inhabitants.

Data from Eurostat show that since 2009 the three main countries preferred by Albanian asylum-seekers were Germany, France, and the UK. The highest movement flux has primarily been towards Germany which has received 84 thousand applications from Albanians since 2009, or 47 percent of the whole number of applications in the last decade. The greatest number of applications was in 2015 with 54,760 asylum requests.

Later though, Germany imposed strong criteria for those seeking economic asylum favoring mostly refugees from conflictual countries. Thus, in 2018 it received only 1875 applications from Albanian asylum seekers. Nevertheless Germany has followed mitigating policies for qualified individuals, starting first with medical experts, and now seeking graduates in Information Technologies and Computer Science.

France has accepted 41 thousand Albanian asylum applicants since 2009, or 23 percent of the entire number of applicants in the past decade. France is listed the second after Germany from the number of asylum seekers. The applications has significantly increased in the last years, making thus this country as a preferred destination for asylum seekers due its favorable policies, especially to families with young children.

Comparing to the aforementioned countries, the United Kingdom has accepted only 8 percent of the entire number of applicants since 2009, or 13600 Albanians. Greece is listed fourth, which since 2009 has accepted 9500 applications, followed by Sweden which has accepted only 9245 Albanian applicants. A noticeable increase has been on the Benelux countries. More than 10 thousand Albanian asylum seekers have applied in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg together.

When comparing to the other EU countries, Italy has only 2 percent of the entire number of applications by Albanian asylum seekers. Yet, the Albanian community in Italy is the second biggest, which makes it easier for Albanians to find shelter and jobs. In the Scandinavian countries the number of applications didn’t surpass 2500.

The data from Eurostat however, show that regardless of the high numbers of applications, the decisions for Albanian asylum seekers very low. No more than 1000 applications a year are accepted. This comes because Albania is considered a safe place and its asylum applicants aren’t seen as a priority.

 

Tirana Times
By Tirana Times March 22, 2019 16:39