Cyprus records significant drop in asylum applications in April this year

Asylum applications in Cyprus were down by over 70 per cent in April this year compared to the same month in 2022, Eurostat data showed on Tuesday.

According to the EU’s statistical office, a total of 645 persons asylum applicants sought international protection in Cyprus in April 2023, which constitutes a significant reduction compared to April 2022 when there were 2,300 new applications.

In the EU, there were 72,630 first-time asylum applicants in April 2023, marking a 34 per cent increase compared with April 2022 with 54,350 applications.

There were also 5,310 subsequent applicants, a 5 per cent decrease compared with April 2022 when applications reached 5,610.

Most applicants in EU were Syrian according to the statistical information available.

As in the previous months, in April 2023, Syrians were the largest group of people seeking asylum in the EU (9,420 first-time applicants. They were followed by Afghans, at 7,405, ahead of Venezuelans, 5,785, Colombians, 4,770, and Turks, 4,640.

Following Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, there was a significant increase in Ukrainian first-time asylum applicants, from 2,105 in February 2022 to 12,190 in March 2022, but the numbers have been decreasing monthly down to 895 in April 2023. This is also because people fleeing Ukraine benefit from temporary protection.

In April 2023, the number of first-time asylum applicants with Russian citizenship ranked 12th among all citizenships, with 1,720 applications.

Germany was first in applications, with 20,950 in April this year, followed by Spain with 12,910, France, 10,260, and Italy 8,175. These countries received the highest number of first-time asylum applicants, accounting for almost three-quarters of all first-time applicants in the EU.

In total in the EU, there were 162 first-time asylum applicants per million people in April 2023.

Compared with the population of each EU country, nine Member States had a higher rate than the overall EU ratio. The lowest rate was observed in Hungary at 0.4.

Regarding unaccompanied minors, first time asylum applications reached 2,625 in April in the EU, most of which, 895, were from Afghanistan, and Syria, 685.

The EU countries which received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in April 2023 were Germany (1,105), ahead of the Netherlands (340) and Austria (285).

There is no data on applications by unaccompanied minors in Cyprus, France and Poland, due to temporary derogations.