Prague, July 7 (CTK) – A total of 662 foreigners, 17 fewer than a year ago, asked for asylum in the Czech Republic during the first five months of the year, according to a report published by the Interior Ministry asylum and migration policy department.
Ukrainians and Iraqis most frequently asked for asylum as they accounted for over one half of all applications.
In the long run, Ukrainians make up the biggest share of asylum seekers.
However, compared to last year, they submitted 127 applications fewer.
On the other hand, Iraqis were not among the ten most frequent nations in 2015, while this year, Czech authorities have recorded 130 applications from them.
The rise can be attributed to a project for the resettlement of Christian refugees from Iraq that started this year. Thanks to it, 89 refugees came here.
However, the government cancelled it after some of them left for Germany and some back to their homeland.
Unlike last year, the Chinese are among the most frequent asylum seekers now. They have submitted 60 applications.
Over 20 applications have also been submitted by asylum seekers from Cuba, Syria, Russia and Georgia.
The Interior Ministry data say that 122 people were granted asylum between this January and May, while another 137 received the additional protection status that is granted for a fixed time.
In 418 cases, Czech authorities did not grant asylum or suspended the proceedings.
Last year, 1,525 people asked for asylum in the Czech Republic, which was 369 more than a year ago.
Between 2010 and 2013, the number of asylum seekers was just under 1,000 a year.
The record high number of 18,000 applications was reached in 2001.
pv/dr
