After a strong increase during the last two years, requests for asylum from Albanian citizens have shown signs of slowing down during the first two months of the year.

Data published by Eurostat reveal that in January-February a total of 1,675 requests for asylum were registered in one of the countries of the European Union, with a decrease of 14% compared to the same period of the previous year.

France continues to be the most preferred country for Albanian asylum seekers, with 42% of the total applications for January-February. The strongest social practices of this country continue to attract Albanian citizens who hope for a better life in this country.

Germany ranks second, with 23% of the total, however a large part of its citizens go to Europe's largest economy on work visas, not being registered as asylum seekers.

Italy, which was one of the biggest hosts of migrants in the first years of the transition, along with Greece, remains the favorite, with 20% of the total.

Geography of the applicants goes as far as the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, although in low numbers (see the chart: Applications for asylum of Albanian citizens in EU countries, January-February 2023).

For the year 2022, according to Eurostat data, (since 2020 it reports data for the 27 countries of the European Union without the United Kingdom), in total there were 13.2 thousand applications for asylum in one of the countries of the European Union, the highest level high since 2020. Compared to a year ago, asylum applications increased by 16%.

While other data, published by the Office of Immigration Statistics, United Kingdom and processed by "Monitor" show that the total number of asylum applications from Albanian citizens in the United Kingdom was 15,925, marking a record level for this place.

Together with the United Kingdom, the total number of applications in Europe reached 30 thousand, the highest level since 2006.

About 81.000 requests for asylum were registered in the countries of the European Union in February of this year, according to the figures provided by the EU Agency for Asylum (EU Agency for Asylum, EUAA), writes Schengen Visa Info.

This shows that a third of the increase was registered in February 2023, compared to the figures for the same period last year, but still below the statistics of the previous month, during which period 92,000 asylum requests were registered in EU countries .

According to EUAA data, an increase in the number of asylum requests has been observed from citizens of Turkey, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia. The report pointed out that, in the second month of this year, Venezuelans and Colombians have submitted twice as many applications, marking the most significant increase since 2014.

The same source shows that, in February 2023, citizens of the following countries submitted the largest number of asylum requests in European countries: Syria – 9,500, Afghanistan – 9,300, Turkey – 5,200, Venezuela – 5,200 and Colombia – 5,200.

The number of requests for international protection submitted in EU countries by citizens of Russia also saw a sharp increase since last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, more than four million Ukrainians are benefiting from the temporary protection scheme.

Data provided by the agency also revealed that a total of 650,000 claims were awaiting a first-instance decision at the end of February 2023, marking a 43% increase compared to last year.

At the same time, in February, the outstanding cases for citizens of Turkey (42,000) and Russia (17,000) had doubled compared to the previous year.

The recognition rate in EU countries in February was 41%, according to the EUAA, while EU countries granted more refugee status to citizens from Afghanistan, while giving more aid subsidies to Syrians.

Recognition rates for nationals of other countries remained stable, also taking into account those for Syrians (95%), Iranians (45%), Pakistanis (8%) and Bangladeshis (4%). However, the report revealed that the recognition rate for citizens of Turkey marked a significant drop, from 50% at the end of 2021, to 29% in February of this year.

(Source: Monitor)