This year, over 3 grand and 300 Kosovars sought asylum in the EU

Citizens from Albania and Kosovo lead by an obvious margin compared to other Balkan countries for the number of asylum requests for the European Union in the first half of this year.

The European Agency for Asylum (EUAA)'s latest report says 3,778 asylum applications were submitted for the first time to a European Union country by Albanian citizens from January to June of this year.

The highest number of asylum applications of citizens from Albania registered in Italy, Greece and France

Even the number of asylum applications from Kosovo citizens in a European Union country was high, marking 3,375 people in the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, other Balkan region countries have a lower number of requests of their citizens, first submitted for asylum in a European Union country in the first six months of this year.

According to the EUA report, citizens of Northern Macedonia submitted 1,872 requests for asylum -- Serbia's 1,660 requests -- of 750 and Montenegro's 182 requests.

From the data released earlier by the European Agency for Asylum about 2,700 requests of citizens from Albania gathered over the past year are pending to be reviewed, while the rate of recognition of asylum is too low for Albanian citizens, not exceeding the 3 per cent of the total requirements presented in European Union countries.

Meanwhile, according to a newly published European Statistics Agency E report UROSTAT, citizens from Albania also make up the highest number of permits taken in a European Union country during 2023 from the Balkan region.

According to EUROSTAT 74,938 citizens from Albania received permission for the first time in a European Union country in 2023, while from Kosovo there were 45568 citizens who were equipped with residence permits.

According to EUROSTAT around 41,760 Albanians received residence permits for family reasons, 13,144 for other undefined reasons, while 2,450 for educational reasons. / REL