Record number of asylum applications filed in France

For the first time, the number of asylum applications in France exceeded 100,000 in 2017. These data were given in the annual report by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees (OFPRA), UNN reports. 

The report states that the number of asylum applications was significantly higher in 2017 in comparison with 2016, when the 7.1% increase was documented. In 2017, the number of applications reached 100,755, which means the 17.5% increase in comparison with 2016.

According to the statistics referenced in the document, by this time, OFPRA have never registered 100,000 asylum applications during one year. These records have been kept since 1981. 

After the consideration of applications, 23,958 persons (27.2%) obtained positive responses and were provided with the protection of the agency and the refugee status. In 2016, OFPRA provided asylum to 28.8% of asylum seekers. The agency explains this reduction with the fact that more and more migrants seeking asylum in France fall into the category of economic migrants rather than the IDPs, and therefore they are denied asylum. 

The majority of asylum seekers arrived from Albania – the total of 12,131 asylum applications was submitted by the citizens of this country, which is 60% more than in 2016. It is followed by Afghanistan (6,671), Syria (5,824), Haiti (5,744), and Sudan (4,823). 

The symbolic threshold of 100,000 applications was exceeded. Although it has not become a mass inflow, it revealed many painful stories about deportations, OFPRA’s director general Pascal Brice noted. 

It should be reminded that nearly a quarter of the registered Islamists submitted asylum applications in Germany. It was informed on Saturday, April 7, by Der Spiegel, UNN reports.