Budapest, January 14 (MTI) – The number of applications for asylum in Hungary jumped dramatically in 2014 compared with previous years, the director-general of the immigration office said on Wednesday.
Whereas there were 2,157 applications submitted in 2012, their number went up to 18,900 in 2013 and jumped to 42,777, which even took the immigration office by surprise, Zsuzsanna Vegh told a press conference.
The increase last year was recorded from the summer and mounted further in the last two months, she said, noting that the office received 9,000 applications in November and another 13,000 in December alone.
Vegh noted an outstanding migration pressure faced by the EU in 2013 and last year, adding that the main triggers were the deteriorating security situation in crisis regions and economic hardship, she said.
Last year, based on the number of applications submitted in November, Hungary ranked fifth after Germany, Sweden, Italy and France, she noted. Hungary had the second highest ratio — 2.9 asylum-seeker per 1,000 citizens — in November after Sweden (7.78/1,000), she said.
Applications for asylum were submitted by individuals from 79 countries, half of them by Kosovars. Twenty percent of applicants were Afghan nationals and 16 percent Syrian. A typical route for illegal migrants reaching Hungary is from Turkey via Serbia and another major one is via Romania and Ukraine.
She noted that Hungary is a transit country. In half of asylum application procedures, by the time the process has been completed the applicants have already left the country, Vegh said.
The immigration authority last year rejected 10 percent of the applications and granted some level of protection to only one percent, or 503 applicants, she said.
Last year a grant scheme was introduced to help the social integration of migrants under protection, she said, noting that the authority had so far spent over 200 million forints (EUR 625,000) on 500 grants.
Photo: MTI