The number of asylum applications in Luxembourg fell slightly between April and May 2016 to 121, although the figures for May of this year are the highest the month has seen since 2012, when the number of applications in the same month stood at 264.
There have now been a total of 734 applications for asylum received so far in 2016. The majority of those received from the European continent were last month from Albania, at 12 out of 43, whilst Kosovo numbers took second place at 10. Azerbaijan saw a sudden influx of applications to Luxembourg in May 2016, with 10 applications each for Azerbaijan and Syria out of a total 33 Asian applications. As was the case in April 2016, Morocco represented the African country with the most applicants, which even rose slightly in May to 14 out of a total 45 African applications.
Iraq and Syria unsurprisingly have made up the largest proportion of applications so far in 2016, at 15.5%, or 114 people, each. Despite this similar standing, Iraqi refugees have engaged in several demonstrations in the last five months to highlight their frustration at what they have claimed is a discriminate screening system that favours Syrian applications over Iraqi ones. This led Luxembourg Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Jean Asselborn, to promise that waiting times would be shortened through staff reinforcement.
37 applications in May were given a decision of "Incompetence" and 34 requests were refused international protection, either through a normal or accelerated procedure. 22 individuals were awarded refugee status in May 2016, against 50 the previous month. These figures do not comprise the 27 Syrian refugees who were resettled in Luxembourg last month through the Europe-Turkey agreement.
In May 2016, 25 people were transferred to other EU Member States under the Dublin regulation, 13 of which were to Germany, whilst Luxembourg received just one transferral. 36 people returned to their country of origin last month, 33 of which were voluntary. The majority of these returns (10) were to Iraq.
Table by MAEE
