Budapest, March 16 (MTI) – The number of illegal immigrants arriving in Hungary from Kosovo has dropped since the start of the year, but of those coming from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq has remained high, the director of the national immigration and citizenship office said on Monday.
In an unprecedented trend, more than 7,000 illegal immigrants have arrived from those three countries since the beginning of 2015, Zsuzsanna Vegh told public Kossuth Radio.
The immigrants have fled from areas where security has seriously deteriorated, she said, adding that evaluating their applications is a more complex process than the ones for Kosovar applicants.
Vegh noted that as a result of international cooperation between authorities, the number of illegal immigrants has dropped significantly, from around 1,000 per day in the beginning of the year to 150-200. But the number is still high in an international comparison, she added.
With the total number of asylum-seekers registered by the office Hungary by now is listed second behind Germany, she said.
The office has switched to a 24-hour work schedule to process applications, Vegh added.
Photo: MTI