Useful new briefing provides factual background on asylum law and processes
The House of Commons Library today published a new briefing on asylum claims in the UK.
It provides a usefully succinct, easy to read and factual overview of the asylum process.
You can download it here or you can read it in full below:
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HOUSE OF COMMONS
LIBRARY
BRIEFING PAPER
Number 9000, 8 September 2020
Asylum claims in the UK: common questions
By Melanie Gower
Georgina Sturge
Contents:
1. Definitions
2. Must people claim asylum in the first safe country they reach?
3. How are asylum claims assessed in the UK?
4. Asylum seekers' eligibility for welfare benefits
5. Application outcomes: recent statistics
6. Other routes of entry: family reunion and resettlement
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Contents
Summary
1. Definitions
2. Must people claim asylum in the first safe country they reach?
2.1 International law
2.2 UK legislation, policy and practice
3. How are asylum claims assessed in the UK?
3.1 The application process
3.2 Decision outcomes
3.3 Further submissions
4. Asylum seekers' eligibility for welfare benefits
4.1 Asylum support in the UK
4.2 International comparisons
5. Application outcomes: recent statistics
5.1 How many people were granted protection in the UK in the last year?
The longer term view
5.2 What proportion of applications are successful?
5.3 How does the UK compare to other countries in Europe?
6. Other routes of entry: family reunion and resettlement
6.1 Refugee family reunion rules
6.2 Dublin III Regulations
6.3 Refugee resettlement schemes
The 'Dubs scheme'
Cover page image copyright Asylum keyboard by Gerd Altman. Licensed under Pixabay License – no attribution required / image cropped.
Many Members often receive questions and correspondence from constituents about the UK's asylum system.
This briefing provides an overview of international and UK asylum law and processes, related statistics, and other issues commonly raised by constituents:
• Differences in definitions between asylum seeker, refugee and migrant
• Whether people must claim asylum in the first safe country they reach
• How asylum claims are decided in the UK
• Recent statistics on asylum application outcomes
• Asylum seekers' eligibility for welfare benefits
• Comparative information about asylum in other European countries
• Refugee family reunion and refugee resettlement schemes
Recent statistics
In the year ending June 2020:
• 32,423 asylum applications were submitted in the UK
• 11,116 asylum applications were granted at initial decision stage
• 1,387 grants of humanitarian protection and 889 grants of alternative types of immigration permission following an asylum application were made,
• 2,932 asylum applications were allowed at appeal stage, and
• 3,560 grants of protection were made through resettlement schemes.
Initial decisions on asylum applications often take place in a different year to that in which the application was made.
The UK received the fifth highest number of asylum applicants (44,800) amongst EU Member States in 2019. Germany received the largest number (165,600), followed by France (128,900), Spain (117,800), and Greece (77,300). Taken with the UK, these top five countries received 72% of asylum applications in the EU28.
In 2019, Cyprus had the largest number of asylum applications per 10,000 population (156), followed by Malta (83), Greece (72), Luxembourg (37), and Sweden (26). The UK (5) ranked 17th among EU28 countries on this measure.
The UK was below the average among EU countries for positive first instance asylum grants per head of population, ranking 16th among EU28 countries.
In 2019, the UK granted two positive asylum decisions at first instance for every 10,000 people. This put it below the average among EU countries (13), ranking 16th among EU28 countries. In 2019, Greece granted the largest number of positive first instance asylum decisions per 10,000 population (16) and Hungary the fewest (0.06).
It can be hard to know which terminology to use in this area. There are important legal distinctions between some terms which are often used interchangeably by the general public.
An 'asylum seeker' is a person who has left their country of origin, applied for protection ('asylum') in another country from persecution or serious human rights violations, and is still waiting for a decision on their case. Regardless of how they entered the country, someone who applies for asylum in the UK has the legal right to remain here whilst their application is considered.
A 'refugee' is someone whose claim for asylum has been allowed (i.e. it has been legally recognised that they need international protection).
The terms 'illegal asylum seeker' or 'illegal refugee' are inaccurate and misleading.
International law doesn't provide a formal definition of 'migrant'. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)'s Emergency Handbook notes:
The term is increasingly used as an umbrella term to refer to any person who moves away from their usual place of residence, whether internally or across a border, and regardless of whether the movement is 'forced' or voluntary.
A variety of terms are used in academic, policy, media and other circles to describe people living in a country where they do not have permission to reside. These include 'irregular', 'illegal', 'clandestine', 'undocumented', 'unauthorised', and 'unlawful'. The term 'illegal immigrant' is not generally used by people who work in the field of migration policy and statistics. It is vague and usually not accurate in describing specific groups of people.
A 2011 briefing on Irregular Migration in the UK by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford notes that, as well as a lack of consensus over what terminology to use, there are debates over who such terms should apply to:
...the term 'irregular migrants' typically refers to the stock of migrants in a country who are not entitled to reside there, either because they have never had a legal residence permit or because they have overstayed their time-limited permit. ... it can also refer to migrants who are legally resident but breaching the conditions attached to their immigration status.
It also makes the point that:
The law defines immigration status in a binary way as either legal or illegal, but in practice irregular migration status can involve a wide spectrum of violations of immigration and other laws.
Researchers have suggested that in practice, some people fall within a 'grey zone' between legal/regular and illegal/irregular status.
2. Must people claim asylum in the first safe country they reach?
International refugee law does not require that people claim asylum in the first safe country they enter.
Article 31 of the 1951 Refugee Convention does refer to people who are "coming directly" from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened. It states that in such circumstances, those who are found to be refugees should not be prosecuted for illegal entry/presence in another country. The Courts have recognised that refugees do not need to claim asylum in countries they pass through in order to be covered by Article 31. [1]
Separately, EU Member States have agreed rules for determining which EU state should be responsible for processing an asylum claim lodged within the EU (the Dublin III Regulation). Again, these don't impose an obligation on asylum seekers to claim in the first country they enter. Rather, they set out a hierarchy of criteria for states to decide which country should assume responsibility for considering the asylum application.
The Dublin system was intended to prevent 'asylum shopping' (whereby a person moves between countries to where they perceive as the most favourable destination) and 'refugees in orbit' (whereby no country takes responsibility for processing a person's application).
Under the regulation, one of the relevant factors for determining responsibility is which Member State the asylum seeker first entered or claimed asylum in. So, a European country can request to transfer an asylum seeker within its territory to another participating state if it establishes (e.g. by comparing fingerprint records) that the person has already been registered there.
But there are other factors identified in the regulation as more significant than the country of first entry. Family unity is a primary consideration, above other criteria. So, a person who has claimed asylum in one state might be transferred to another one if it is established that they have family members living there.
The UK will no longer be able to use the Dublin Regulation to transfer asylum seekers to/from participating states when the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December. The UK has proposed a replacement agreement as part of the negotiations on the UK's future relationship with the EU, but this has reportedly been rejected by European negotiators. The Government has indicated that in the event of a failure to make an EU-wide agreement, it might try to negotiate bilateral agreements with individual EU Member States.
Further reading
• EU Law Analysis Blog, 'Updated Qs and As on the legal issues of asylum-seekers crossing the Channel', 8 August 2020
• Free Movement Blog, 'Are refugees obliged to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach?', 2 January 2019
2.2 UK legislation, policy and practice
Successive UK governments have argued that people seeking asylum should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. Existing UK asylum laws give some scope to refuse to consider an application if it is judged that the person could have claimed asylum elsewhere.
Cases where a person has passed through an EU state are handled in accordance with the Dublin III Regulation. In 2019, the UK made 3,258 Dublin transfer requests to other Member States. 263 transfers took place. [2]
The UK's Immigration Rules set out how the 'first country of asylum' concept can be applied to cases where a person has travelled through or has a connection with a non-EU safe country. They give some scope to treat the person's asylum (but not human rights) claim made in the UK as 'inadmissible'. [3] The Home Office is unable to provide data on how often these powers are used.
A PQ answered in June 2020 summarises the Government's position on the 'first safe country' concept, and how it is reflected within the UK's asylum determination process:
The UK is committed to providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with its international obligations. It is an established principle that those in need of protection should seek asylum in the first safe country that they enter and not put their lives at risk by making unnecessary and dangerous onwards journeys to the UK. Illegal migration from safe countries undermines our efforts to help those most in need.
Controlled resettlement via safe and legal routes is the best way to protect refugees and disrupt the organised crime groups that exploit migrants and refugees. We support these principles by:
• treating asylum claims made in the UK as inadmissible if the claimants have suitable protection in another safe country from where they would not face refoulement (that is, the country would not force the claimant to return to another country where they would be at risk of harm or persecution)
• treating asylum claims made in the UK as inadmissible if the claimant has travelled through or has a connection to another safe country which is not their own, on the basis that the claimant has, or could have lodged their asylum claim there
• progressing to removal stage those who undertake illegal journeys and subvert immigration control, to demonstrate that such action will not lead to entry to, or settlement in the UK.
Information regarding how many inadmissible decisions based on the concept of safe third country, first country of asylum and which designated safe third country those decisions relate to is not recorded or held in a reportable format. (...). [4]
3. How are asylum claims assessed in the UK?
The UK is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. The Convention sets out the definition of a refugee (i.e. the grounds on which a person can qualify for asylum), certain rights of displaced people, and some legal obligations that receiving States have towards refugees.
The UK also has obligations to assess asylum claims under other pieces of international and European human rights laws, notably the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
People must be physically present in the UK to claim asylum.
It is not possible to apply for asylum via a UK embassy, or to apply for a visa for the purpose of coming to seek asylum in the UK. Some observers argue that the absence of a legal route of entry to the UK for asylum seekers is a significant factor behind the problem of people trying to enter the UK by irregular means (e.g. hidden in the back of lorries or in small boats).
People can claim asylum upon arrival in the UK (at border control) or after-entry to the UK (usually, by attending the asylum screening unit in South-East London).
They will have a screening interview to register their asylum claim, establish their identity and details of entry to the UK, and identify any particular needs they may have.
Their reasons for claiming asylum are explored in the main ('substantive') asylum interview. Some time after their main interview (potentially several months or longer) they will receive notice of the decision on their case.
Claiming asylum is a legal process and it is advisable for an asylum seeker to seek legal advice and representation. Some legal aid is available for asylum applications, subject to assessments of the person's financial means and the merits of the case.
In order to be eligible for asylum in the UK, a person must show that either:
• They meet the 1951 Refugee Convention's definition of a 'refugee' (i.e. they are outside their country of origin and have a well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group); or
• Their persecution isn't covered by the 1951 Convention but they are at risk of suffering 'serious harm' if returned to their country of origin.
Sources including legislation and caselaw can inform the definitions and interpretations of the key concepts (e.g. "well-founded"; "serious harm"; "particular social group").
Asylum claims are decided by caseworkers in the Home Office's UK Visas and Immigration directorate, on behalf of the Home Secretary. Each case is considered on its individual merits. The decision-maker must take into account the information provided by the applicant during their asylum interview and any other supporting material they may have provided, and also apply relevant legislation and caselaw.
If an application is refused there is a time-limited right of appeal to the Tribunals Service. The appeal is considered by an Immigration Judge, who is independent of the Home Office.
Whether either side (i.e. the asylum seeker of the Home Office) will have an opportunity to make a further appeal against the Judge's decision depends on the individual facts of the case. Legal aid is only available for appeals judged to have a greater than 50% chance of success. There are further restrictions on the availability of legal aid for judicial reviews.
People whose asylum claims are granted (whether at the initial decision stage or after an appeal) – collectively, 'refugees' - are either granted 'Refugee status' (if the application is allowed under the terms of the 1951 Convention) or 'Humanitarian Protection (for cases allowed on non-Convention grounds). Both types of status give permission to stay in the UK for five years initially, with the same rights to work, study and access welfare benefits as British citizen/permanent residents (although refugees may find it difficult to gain entitlement to benefits which depend on having a sufficient National Insurance contribution record). At the end of the five years the refugee must make a further application for permanent permission to stay in the UK.
If it is decided that a person is ineligible for asylum, but that removing them from the UK would breach the UK's obligations under the ECHR (e.g. due to the strength of the person's private or family life in the UK), they may be given temporary permission to remain in the UK, subject to conditions (e.g. 'no recourse to public funds').
People whose asylum claims do not succeed (often referred to as 'refused'; 'failed'; or 'appeal rights exhausted' asylum seekers) are expected to leave the UK. People who do not make a voluntary departure could have an enforced removal arranged by the Home Office. Refused asylum seekers may be put on regular reporting restrictions or be held in immigration detention to facilitate their removal from the UK.
People who claim asylum are expected to disclose all relevant information in support of their application at the earliest possible opportunity. But it is possible to submit new evidence ("further submissions") at any stage, including after the asylum claim/appeal has been refused.
Further submissions can relate to a person's original asylum claim (e.g. if significant new evidence becomes available, or there is a relevant caselaw development). Or they can raise a new issue not previously considered (e.g. if there has been a change in the person's circumstances or in their country of origin, or they raise reasons for claiming asylum which were not previously disclosed).
However, the Home Office will only agree to treat further submissions as a "fresh claim" for asylum if the new information is significantly different from material that has already been considered and the case has a realistic prospect of success.
Accessing legal advice to help prepare further submissions can be problematic, for example due to the refused asylum seeker's lack of financial means, limited availability of specialist advice and funding constraints within the legal aid system.
If the Home Office considers that the new information does not amount to a fresh asylum claim (because it is not raising any new issues) it can reject the new application without further consideration, and there is no right of appeal. If the submissions are treated as a fresh claim for asylum, the Home Office must consider the application. The applicant would have a right of appeal in the event of a further refusal decision.
Further reading
• GOV.UK, 'Claim asylum in the UK' (undated; accessed 1 September 2020)
• Migrant Help, 'Asylum advice and guidance' (undated; accessed 1 September 2020)
• Right to Remain, 'Toolkit guide to the UK immigration and asylum system' (undated; accessed 1 September 2020)
• Free Movement blog, 'What is the legal definition of a "refugee"?', 15 June 2020
• Asylum Information Database, UK country report, 19 March 2020
4. Asylum seekers' eligibility for welfare benefits
People seeking asylum are generally not allowed to work whilst waiting for a decision on their claim.
Nor are they eligible for mainstream welfare benefits. Instead, if they are destitute, they can apply for 'asylum support' from UK Visas and Immigration. They can apply for accommodation and/or financial ('subsistence') support. Most apply for both.
Private sector providers (rather than local authorities) are responsible for finding accommodation for asylum seekers, under contracts with the Home Office.
People waiting for a decision on their asylum support application are first provided with temporary full-board or self-catering accommodation ('initial accommodation'). Hotels are not usually used, but they can be used as contingency initial accommodation when there is a good reason to do so (such as a lack of alternative accommodation). The number of people seeking asylum being temporarily accommodated in hotels has risen since September 2019. This is partly because of measures introduced to limit the risk of spreading coronavirus.
Those in need of accommodation are then moved into 'dispersal accommodation', typically self-catering flats or houses. It is allocated on a no-choice basis and is usually located outside of London and the South-East. Single adults are housed in shared accommodation; single adults of the same sex may be allocated shared rooms.
People seeking asylum do not directly pay for their rent or utility bills whilst in asylum accommodation. The accommodation is provided fully furnished and equipped with household goods and linens.
People in receipt of asylum support are eligible for a standard weekly subsistence amount of £39.60. This amount is intended to cover their essential living needs, namely: food; clothing; toiletries; non-prescription medication; household cleaning items; communications; travel; and the ability to access social, cultural and religious life.
Some extra payments and additional support are available for pregnant women, young children and exceptional cases with additional needs.
Asylum seekers are also eligible for free NHS treatment, free prescriptions, dental care and eye tests. Children in asylum-seeking families must attend school if they are of compulsory school age.
A person's financial and accommodation support ends a few weeks after the final decision has been made on their asylum claim.
Refused asylum seekers have few support options because they are expected to leave the UK. The Home Office only provides asylum support to refused asylum seekers in two specific scenarios:
• if it accepts that there is a temporary obstacle preventing the person's departure from the UK; or
• if the household includes children under 18.
It can be difficult to make meaningful direct comparisons of the financial and accommodation support given to asylum seekers in different countries, due to the variety of arrangements in place and differences in the cost of living.
The Asylum Information Database is a useful source of comparative information about asylum procedures and reception conditions across Europe.
Further reading
• GOV.UK, 'Asylum support' (undated; accessed 26 August 2020)
• Commons Library Briefing 8990 Asylum accommodation: the use of hotels, 1 September 2020
• Commons Library Briefing 1908 Asylum seekers: the permission to work policy, 13 August 2020
• Commons Library briefing 6847 What benefits can people from abroad claim? 17 June 2015
5. Application outcomes: recent statistics
5.1 How many people were granted protection in the UK in the last year?
According to the Home Office's quarterly immigration statistics (June 2020 release), in the year ending June 2020:
• 32,423 asylum applications were submitted in the UK
• 11,116 asylum applications were granted at initial decision stage
• 1,387 grants of humanitarian protection and 889 grants of alternative types of immigration permission following an asylum application were made,
• 2,932 asylum applications were allowed at appeal stage, and
• 3,560 grants of protection were made through resettlement schemes. [5]
Initial decisions on asylum applications can, and often do, take place in a different year to that in which the application was made.
The number of grants on initial decision was around 4% higher than in the year ending June 2018 and around double the equivalent number in the year ending 2011. Overall, the number of grants has been rising since 2004 but prior to that point there was a period of five years in which the number of applications and grants was substantially higher than it is now. At the peak in 2001, 31,641 applications were successful.
Between the start of 2014 and the end of March 2020, 26,308 people were resettled to the UK under four schemes. The largest, which began in 2014, is the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme for Syrians.
During the same period, around 91,300 people were granted asylum or another form of humanitarian leave to remain through the UK's in-country asylum process. [6] This means that resettlement accounted for just under a quarter (22%) of the people granted humanitarian protection in the UK in the last five years (2014-2019).
5.2 What proportion of applications are successful?
Not all asylum seekers will have their applications to stay in the UK allowed.
In calendar year 2019, 58% of initial decisions resulted in a grant of protection. This grant rate was considerably higher than in recent years and was the highest rate since 1993. In 2018, the grant rate at initial decision was 33% and in 2004 it reached a low of 12%. [7]
Looking at all applications made between 2010 and 2019, 33% were successful at initial decision.
During the same period, around three-quarters of main applicants refused asylum at initial decision lodged an appeal and around one quarter of those appeals were allowed. As shown in the diagram below, this meant that overall 48% of applications made between 2010 or 2019, which have so far reached at least an initial decision, have been successful.
Source: Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly year ending June 2020, table Asy_D04
5.3 How does the UK compare to other countries in Europe?
In 2019, Germany received the largest number of asylum applicants among EU countries (165,600), followed by France (128,900), Spain (117,800), Greece (77,300), and United Kingdom (44,800). Together, these top five countries received 72% of asylum applications in the EU28. [8]
In 2019, Cyprus had the largest number of asylum applications per 10,000 population (156), followed by Malta (83), Greece (72), Luxembourg (37), and Sweden (26).
In 2019, there were five asylum applications for every 10,000 people resident in the UK. Across the EU28 there were 14 asylum applications for every 10,000 people. The UK was therefore below the average among EU countries for asylum applications per head of population, ranking 17th among EU28 countries on this measure.
In 2019, Greece granted the largest number of positive first instance asylum decisions per 10,000 population (16) and Hungary the fewest (0.06).
In 2019, the UK granted two positive asylum decisions at first instance for every 10,000 people. Across the EU28 there were 13 such grants for every 10,000 people. The UK was therefore below the average among EU countries for positive first instance asylum grants per head of population, ranking 16th among EU28 countries on this measure.
Further reading
• Commons Library Briefing 1403 Asylum statistics, 3 September 2020
• Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly: How many people do we grant asylum or protection to?, 27 August 2020
6. Other routes of entry: family reunion and resettlement
As summarised below, aside from claiming asylum in the UK, there are a few other protection-related routes of entry to the UK. [9]
According to the Home Office's quarterly immigration statistics (June 2020 release):
• 6,320 refugee family reunion visas were granted in the year ending June 2020. This is 7% more than in the previous year.
• 714 people were transferred to the UK in 2019 from EU Member States under the Dublin Regulation. The majority (496) of these people came from Greece.
• 3,560 people were granted protection in the UK through refugee resettlement schemes in the year ending June 2020. This is 37% fewer than in the previous year (largely due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic). The majority (three-quarters) of people resettled were Syrian cases.
The refugee family reunion visa is the only one of these routes that can be directly accessed by an individual applicant (through the usual visa application process). A person wanting to come to the UK through one of the other routes would generally need involvement from UK/foreign immigration authorities or partner NGO agencies to initiate the process.
6.1 Refugee family reunion rules
The UK's Immigration Rules allow adult refugees to be joined by people who were their immediate family (partner and dependent children under 18) before they claimed asylum in the UK.
Refugee children who come to the UK unaccompanied cannot use these rules to sponsor applications from family members (although there is some scope to exercise discretion in exceptional cases). Successive recent governments have expressed concerns that letting children sponsor other family members would risk creating an incentive for children to make dangerous journeys to the UK.
Refugee family reunion visas are issued free of charge and are exempt from some of the eligibility criteria that usually apply to family visa applications.
Relatives who are not eligible under the refugee family reunion rules are subject to the same family visa requirements that apply to family members of British citizens and people settled in the UK. These involve significant application fees and more restrictive eligibility criteria (e.g. proof of available accommodation and maintenance funds, proficiency in English language requirement).
As discussed in section 2 of this briefing, the Dublin III Regulation is an EU law which in certain scenarios enables people who have already entered Europe to be transferred to another participating country (including the UK) for consideration of their asylum case. One of the grounds for eligibility for a transfer is if the person has family members in the other country.
Because it applies wider eligibility criteria for sponsors and relatives compared to the UK Immigration Rules, the Dublin III Regulation gives some refugee families a route to reunion in the UK that they would not otherwise have. For example, parents can join children under 18 who have been granted Refugee status, and unaccompanied children can join a 'family member' (parent/responsible adult), sibling or other relative who is seeking asylum or otherwise 'legally present' here.
Formal transfer requests are initiated by the state authorities rather than by the individual applicant/sponsoring family member. Furthermore, the Dublin Regulation only determines which country a person can stay in whilst they claim asylum. If asylum is refused, the applicant would be expected to return to their country of origin (or make a new application in a different immigration category).
6.3 Refugee resettlement schemes
Refugee resettlement programmes transfer people who have already been recognised as refugees from an asylum country to another ('third') country. The aim is to give refugees permanent settlement in the third country.
UNHCR advocates resettlement when its other 'durable solutions' to refugee-producing situations (voluntary repatriation or local integration) are not feasible.
Over the past 5 years the UK has significantly increased the number of refugee resettlement places available in the UK. It has been operating four separate resettlement programmes catering for distinct groups of refugees (e.g. Syrian refugees, vulnerable children).
The Government is consolidating the resettlement schemes into a new global refugee resettlement programme from 2020. This had a target of resettling around 5,000 refugees in the UK in the first year of operation. But the coronavirus pandemic has temporarily interrupted the UK's refugee resettlement activities.
Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 committed the Government to relocate a discretionary number of unaccompanied refugee children from other countries in Europe. The Government subsequently committed to seeking to relocate 480 children under the scheme. 480 children have been transferred to the UK from France, Greece and Italy and no further transfers are expected to take place under this provision.
Further reading
• Commons Library Briefing CBP 7511 The UK's refugee family reunion rules: a comprehensive framework?, 27 March 2020
• Commons Library Briefing CBP8750, Refugee resettlement in the UK, 6 March 2020
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[1] R v Uxbridge Magistrates Court (ex parte Adimi) [1999] Imm AR 560
[2] Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly release, June 2020
[3] Immigration Rules, HC 395 of 1993-4 as amended, paras 345A-D
[4] PQ 14014 [on Asylum], answered 30 June 2020
[5] Home Office, Immigration statistics quarterly, year ending June 2020.
[6] Home Office Immigration Statistics, year ending June 2020 Asy_D01 (initial decisions) and Asy_D04 (appeals). Includes main applicants and dependants.
[7] Home Office Immigration statistics quarterly year ending June 2020, table Asy_D02; Immigration Statistics, October to December 2016, Table as_01. These figures are for the number of applications rather than individuals associated with applications.
[8] Eurostat, Asylum and first time asylum applicants by citizenship, age and sex Annual aggregated data [migr_asyappctza]
[9] Over the years, some other bespoke categories/concessions have been made for certain specific groups e.g. relocation schemes for locally employed Iraqi and Afghan interpreters.