In 2022, almost 29,000 Georgian citizens applied for asylum in the European Union - almost twice as many as in 2021. Information about this is published on the website of the EU Migration Agency.
Last year, 28,797 Georgian citizens applied for asylum, of which more than 26,400 were initial applications, and 2,397 were repeat applications.
In 2022, the EU considered 18,850 applications from Georgian citizens, the number of refusals was 18,089 (96%). Only 468 people received refugee status, 258 received additional protection. The number of pending applications is 15,328.
Earlier, the Georgian service of RFE/RL reported that in 2014-2022, Georgian citizens most often applied for asylum in Germany and France. In 2022, the number of applications submitted by Georgian citizens to Ireland increased significantly.
In total, the European Union received about 966,000 asylum applications last year, which is one and a half times more than in 2021. According to the authors of the report, this is due to the lifting of restrictions after the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts and food security issues.
The most applications were submitted by citizens of Syria - 132 thousand, Afghanistan - 129 thousand, Turkey - 55 thousand, Venezuela - 51 thousand, Colombia - 43 thousand. A record number of applications came from citizens of Turkey, Venezuela, Colombia, Bangladesh and Georgia.
About four million Ukrainian citizens applied for temporary protection. Currently, Ukrainians can enter EU countries without documents, after which they can apply for temporary asylum. Along with this status, applicants receive a residence permit, access to medical care, housing and education for children.
In 2022, almost 17 thousand Russians applied for asylum in the European Union - twice as many as in 2021. Last year, 16,920 Russians applied for asylum, of which more than 13,600 were initial applications, and 3,300 were repeated applications. In 2021, a total of 6,993 applications were submitted, of which 4,357 were primary applications.