EMN’s first quarterly news bulletin: Immigration to EU countries on the rise since 2009

European Migration Network publishes first quarterly news bulletin:

The European Migration Network (EMN) has published its first quarterly English-language news bulletin called the EMN Bulletin. The bulletin includes topical information about the immigration and asylum policies of EU countries.

The first issue covers news from January to May 2012, but future issues of the bulletin will be released quarterly.

Topics covered by the first issue include asylum, illegal border crossings and the effects of the financial crisis on immigration. The bulletin also lists the most recent EMN studies, including their conclusions.

Number of asylum applications up in 2011

According to the statistical service of the European Commission, Eurostat, the number of asylum applications submitted in EU countries increased by 16.8 per cent in 2011 (302,000 applicants). In 2010, a total of 259,000 individuals sought asylum in EU Member States. The number of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum was also slightly higher in 2011 than in previous years.

A total of 25 per cent of all asylum seekers whose applications were processed in 2011 were granted a residence permit on the basis of some form of international protection. The countries that granted the most residence permits on the grounds of protection were Germany (9,675) and Sweden (8,805).

Illegal border crossings on the increase

The European border agency Frontex recorded almost 141,000 illegal border crossings in the EU in 2011, which indicated an increase of almost 35 per cent on the previous year. The EU’s external borders were most frequently crossed illegally in Greece, Italy and Malta.

On the other hand, the number of individuals residing illegally in EU countries was reported to have decreased by approximately seven per cent (468,500 in 2011, 505,000 in 2010).

High unemployment – almost half of third-country nationals residing in the EU overqualified for their jobs

Only 58.5 per cent of third-country nationals aged between 20 and 64 were employed in the EU in 2010. The figure among the same age group in the native population was 68.6 per cent. A total of 19.4 per cent of all third-country immigrants were unemployed. On the other hand, 46.4 per cent of them were overqualified for their jobs.

Financial crisis impacted on immigration in the EU in 2009

Nine out of ten EU Member States reported a drop in their immigration numbers in 2009 due to the financial crisis and the associated national economic downturns.

The Member States estimated that the drop in the number of immigrants was due to the shortage of work. This may also have impacted on the number of illegal immigrants reported across EU borders in 2009: The total number of persons refused entry at the borders dropped by 21 per cent.

Read the bulletin by e-mail

You can subscribe to the EMN Bulletin by joining the mailing list of the Finnish EMN National Contact Point. To receive future issues of the bulletin via your e-mail, just send your contact details to emn@migri.fi. Alternatively, you can read the bulletin online at www.emn.fi/in_english/emn_bulletin.

Further information for the media

European Migration Network, Finnish Immigration Service:

• Riikka Asa, Head of Section, tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi
• Rafael Bärlund, Senior Adviser, tel. +358 71 873 0431, e-mail: firstname.lastname@migri.fi