ONLY 75 MIGRANTS GRANTED ASYLUM IN CZECH REP. LAST YEAR

28/1/2010- The Czech Republic granted asylum to 75 foreigners in 2009, which was the lowest number since 1995, according to the Interior Ministry data released to CTK Thursday. Only 1258 foreigners asked for asylum last year, which is the lowest number since 1994. From 1990 to 2009, 89,1623 migrants applied for asylum in the country and Czech authorities met 3508 of the applications. The highest number of applications were approved in 1991 (776), followed by 2006 (268). Only 30 asylums were granted in 1990 and 59 in 1995. The most successful asylum seekers have been migrants from Romania (477), Russia (384), Belarus (318), Afghanistan (293) and Armenia (208). In 1990-1996, 175 citizens of the former Soviet Union were granted asylum. Last year, asylum was granted to citizens of Burma (21), Ukraine (9), Vietnam (8), Afghanistan (7) and Kazakhstan (7), among others. The number of successful asylum claimants has been steadily decreasing in the recent years in the Czech Republic. While 268 migrants received asylum in 2006, it was 191 in 2007 and 157 in 2008. The Czech Republic joined the Schengen system without borders in December 2007 and none of its borders is an external border of the Schengen area. The only direct entry to the country for foreigners are international airports. However, a number of foreigners apply for asylum on Czech territory, usually after staying in the country for some time. They may apply for it in prisons and detention and health facilities, for example.
© The Prague Daily Monitor