The latest data published by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) revealed that they registered a total of 92,000 requests for asylum in January of this year, after a similar figure was also marked in December of last year.
Such data also show that nearly one million asylum applications were registered in 2022 in addition to over four million people who have fled Ukraine and benefit from temporary protection in the EU, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
During January of this year, the applicants representing the largest group of asylum seekers were Syrians with 12,700 applications, and Afghans with 12,100.
At the same time, Turkish nationals registered roughly a third more applications in January 2023 with 6,400 than the monthly average of 2022. Turks were followed by Venezuelans with 4,800 asylum applications and Colombians with 4,400, representing two-fifths and four-fifths higher compared to January of last year.
Based on EUAA data, in the first month of this year, the EU+ recognition rate was 41 per cent, in line with December 2022, but by a few percentage points compared to January 2022, since the EU+ degree of recognition does not include persons receiving national protection, for example, Venezuelan nationals.
Further data from EUAA show that at the end of January 2023, there were a total of 644,000 cases waiting for a first-instance decision, which is the most since the beginning of 2017, when EU+ countries were processing applications filed during the migration crisis 2015-2016.
Almost a Million Applications in 2022
Previously, figures provided by the same source revealed that 966,000 asylum applications were submitted to EU authorities in 2022.
According to the annual report, this figure increased by 50 per cent from 2021, becoming the highest number recorded since 2016.
Among the applicants, Syrians and Afghans dominated with the highest number of 132,000 and 129,000 respectively.
In addition, Turkish applicants became the third largest group as the number of their applications increased in 2022. At the same time, Venezuelans with 51,000 applications and Colombians with 43,000 took fourth and fifth place.
The EUAA’s 2022 annual analysis also shows that around 107,300 asylum applications were submitted to the EU+ in November of last year.
The authority also pointed out that during this period, the largest number of requests for asylum were submitted by Syrian, Afghan and Turkish citizens. Thus, in November 2022, a total of 17,700 Syrians submitted a request for asylum, followed by Afghans with 14,900 requests and Turks with 8,300.
