Asylum applications in the EU+ up by 10 percent in H1 2019
BRUSSELS. KAZINFORM In the first half of 2019, some 337,200 applications for asylum were lodged in the EU+, a 10 percent increase from the same period the previous year, according to preliminary analyses.
In contrastto this upward trend, in June 2019, applications fell to the lowest level ofthe year, according to figures, WAM reports.
Citizens ofSyria, Afghanistan and Venezuela continued to lodge the most number ofapplications, with only Syrians seeking asylum in reduced numbers. Importantly,applicants from several Latin-American countries have already lodged the same(or a higher) number of applications as in the whole of 2018. These citizensare all exempt from visa requirements while entering the Schengen area, nowaccounting for more than one in four applications in the EU+.
The outputof first-instance authorities remained at lower levels, some 277,700 decisionswere issued at first instance, in line with the previous semester. As a result,the number of cases awaiting a decision at first instance remained stablethroughout the past 12 months and amounted to 439,000 at the end of June.
Some 95,300first-instance decisions issued so far in 2019 have granted EU-regulated formsof protection (70 percent refugee status and 30 percent subsidiary protection),which amounts to a recognition rate of 34 percent. Citizens from Yemen andSyria had the highest rate (86 percent), whereas Moldovans (0.3 percent) andNorth Macedonians had the lowest rate (one percent).