MADRID: Spain received more than 163,000 asylum requests in 2023, mainly from Latin Americans, its highest-ever number, the interior ministry said Thursday.
“The interior ministry’s asylum and refugee office (OAR) received 163,218 requests for international protection in 2023, 37 percent higher than the previous year and the largest number since it opened in 1992,” a statement said.
The figures place Spain in third place in terms of European Union countries receiving asylum requests, it said.
Nearly 80 percent of the 2023 asylum requests were from Latin America, with Venezuelans filing 60,534 applications, followed by 53,564 Colombian requests and 14,306 from Peruvians.
EU sees asylum requests jump 28% so far in 2023: agency
In 2023, the OAR said it resolved 92,963 asylum cases, with only 12 percent, or 11,371 people, getting permanent protection, mainly from Afghanistan, Colombia, Honduras, Syria, Mali and Nicaragua.
The number of people granted temporary residence permits on humanitarian grounds is higher, with a total of 41,478 people granted this status, mainly Venezuelans.
Spain also issued 33,928 temporary protection orders for Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion, raising to nearly 195,000 the number hosted by Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last month hailed an agreement to reform the European Union’s migration laws, saying it was key to his nation’s ability to better manage arrivals and its border.
The package includes speedier vetting of irregular arrivals, creating border detention centres and accelerating deportation for rejected asylum applicants.
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