International protection in Luxembourg requests slowing after 2015

The number of applications for international protection in Luxembourg looks unlikely to exceed last year’s recording-breaking figure.

From January to November, 1,852 people applied for asylum in Luxembourg, compared to 2,018 over the same period in 2015.

2015 saw the largest arrival of asylum seekers in Luxembourg for many years with 2,447 applications submitted to Luxembourg’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The majority arrived from September 2015 onwards, largely driven by people displaced by conflicts in the Middle East.

Numbers slowed in 2016 as passage from Greece to the rest of Europe was closed off. November 2016 saw 162 people apply for international protection in Luxembourg, well below the 2015 figure (423) but still above the 2014 number (114). The majority of applications came from Serbians (27), followed by Albanian (21), Syria (19), Kosovo (15) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (14).

Across the year so far, the majority of applications for international protection were submitted by Syrians (257/14%), Albanians (209/11%), Kosovans (207/11%) and Iraqis (155/8.4%).

In November, Luxembourg granted refugee status to 52 people and subsidiary status to one person.

The applications of 50 people were refused. Among the 54 people returned during the same month were 22 Albanians, 10 Bosnians, eight Kosovans and seven Serbians were returned to their homes.