Iranians rank fourth among asylum seekers in the European Union
The European Union's asylum office says 3,170 Iranians applied for asylum in the bloc in October, bringing the total number of asylum seekers from EU countries this month to 60,000.
According to the latest report from the European Union Asylum Support Office (EASO), published on Tuesday, December 11, the number of asylum applications registered in October was the highest in 2018, reaching 60,000.
In previous months, the average number of asylum seekers from EU member states was around 51,000. Despite a 17 percent increase in the number of asylum seekers in October, the number of asylum seekers in the first ten months of this year has decreased compared to the same period in 2017.
From January to October this year, a total of 522,284 people from EU countries applied for asylum, which is 13 percent less than the number of asylum seekers in the first ten months of last year.
According to statistics from the European Union's Asylum Support Office, three percent of asylum applicants from January to October this year were unaccompanied children, and more than a third of them are citizens of three countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Eritrea.
More than half of the asylum seekers in October were citizens of ten countries, in order of number of applications: Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Albania, Venezuela, Nigeria and Georgia. Notably, the number of asylum seekers from all ten countries increased in October compared to the previous month.
Syrian citizens at the top of the list
The number of Syrian refugees who registered their applications in an EU country in October was reported to be 6,740, 700 (about 13 percent) more than the previous month.
Afghan citizens are in second place in this table with 4,921 asylum requests, and Iraqis are in third place with 3,869 requests.
The number of asylum seekers from Afghanistan in October was 20 percent higher than the previous month. The number of unaccompanied Afghan children is double the average for all countries.
Following these three countries are citizens of Iran, who registered 3,170 asylum applications in the European Union in October. This is the highest number since September 2016 and 15 percent more than the previous month.
Iranians take advantage of temporary visa waiver to Serbia
According to the report, the increasing number of Iranian asylum seekers began in July, and the reason for this is the possibility for Iranians to travel to Serbia without a visa, which began in September last year. This possibility no longer exists as of October this year, and Iranian citizens must obtain a visa to enter Serbia.
The number of Iranian asylum applications accepted increased slightly in the first quarter of this year, reaching 1,880 in March. However, 14,503 Iranian applications are still pending, according to the European Union Asylum Support Office. According to the office, 38 percent of Iranian asylum applications have been approved in the past six months, 3 percent less than in November last year.
In October, the number of asylum seekers from Turkey in the European Union increased again, reaching 2,880, after a slight decrease in the previous two months. However, the published statistics show that Turkish citizens had the lowest increase in asylum requests among the top ten countries, with 9 percent.
Source: DW
