TIRANA, Dec. 20 – Albania’s asylum wave continues although at a slower pace following massive rejections of unfounded applications and deportations by EU member countries.
Data published by Eurostat, the European Union statistical office, shows the number of first-time Albanian asylum seekers to European Union member countries dropped to about 15,200 in the first three quarters of this years, with Germany, France and the Netherlands as the main destinations.
The lower wave also comes amid tighter border controls Albania has been applying since last summer in order to prevent unfounded asylum-seeking applications following ultimatums issued by France and the Netherlands and pressure that visas could be unilaterally introduced unless measures to prevent the influx are taken.
However, despite warnings by German authorities that asylum-seeking is the wrong way and that only legal migration though employment contracts is the way to make it in Germany and other wealthy EU members for both qualified and non-qualified workers, there are still thousands who try their luck.
“Maybe my son is lucky. We sacrificed a lot and paid €1,300 to the people who arranged the papers to take him to Germany. That is huge money for my poor income,” Agron, a fruit and vegetable street vendor tells the Deutsche Welle in the local Albanian service about his son Gezim seeking asylum in Germany.
“He doesn’t want to live in the village and sell in this open air market with me. He wants a better life and a better future. Gezim is now learning German in the camp. He likes to be a social worker. We pray to God he will not be deported and manage to get a job contract,” he adds.
Agron, a middle-aged man who lives in a village outside Tirana is the only one to work and has to earn a living for his wife and four children at the municipal-run market, but says the income he gets is hardly enough to make ends meet.
Obvious reasons for Albanian citizens leaving their home country include high unemployment, small income which in some cases is lower than the social benefits as asylum seekers in Germany, lack of trust in state institutions perceived as corrupt and inefficient, real or perceived lack of job perspectives and unrealistic expectations compared to income in Western European countries, primarily Germany, according to 2016 study conducted Tirana-based Cooperation and Development Institute.
Albanian authorities say the tighter border crossing measuring introduced last summer are having a positive result in preventing ungrounded asylum-seeking from a NATO member and EU aspirant country such as Albania.
“We are cracking down on criminal gangs and smugglers who sell Albanian citizens fake documents to seek asylum in Germany, France or other EU countries as well as travel agencies involved in the fake documents business,” says Aida Hajnaj, the Border and Migration director at the Albanian State Police.
“Procedures and requirements for every Albanian citizen travelling to EU countries have tightened and parents abandoning their minor children in Schengen Area countries to seek asylum face criminal charges something which has yielded positive results,” she adds.
With only few applicants managing to get asylum, more and more Albanians have turned to studying German language in the past couple of years, joining a Western Balkan trend of preparing to integrate into the German labor market and escaping high unemployment and low-income jobs in their home countries.
Repatriated asylum-seekers are also among the German language students as they plan to move to Germany legally through employment contracts.
Opportunities have increased as what non-qualified workers need is only an employment contract and no proven language skills.
The number of work visas for Albanians, Bosnians and citizens from other Western Balkans countries grew by 70 percent to 63,000 in the first eight months of this year, being the recipients of about a third of visas issued to third-country nationals, German newspaper Die Welt reports referring to data by the Federal Employment Agency.
Since early 2016, Germany has been applying easier work visa procedures for the Western Balkans, with its citizens required to having an employment contract as the only condition to be provided with visa.
The easier procedures for non-qualified workers came following an asylum wave and after Germany added Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro on the list of safe countries of origin in late 2015.
The work visas have been mainly issued for jobs in the construction industry, but there is also need for gastronomy and elderly care workers, German media report.
The program applies until 2020 in addition to the Blue Cad program seeking experts and requiring applicants to have an employment contract, the required qualifications and knowledge of German language.
German Ambassador to Albania Susanne Schà¼tz says the German economy needs qualified workers, but travelling to seek asylum is not the right way for Albanians.
“Travelling to Germany with the intention of getting employed, but filing an asylum application upon arriving to the country is not the right way leading to employment, but a cul-de-sac,” the German ambassador has earlier told Deutsche Welle in the local Albanian service in an interview.
“Germany has classified Albania as a safe country of origin. That means asylum applications by Albanians as well as citizens from other Western Balkans countries undergo fast-track processing and are practically refused in any case,” she adds.
Rejected asylum-seekers have to return to Albania and get a five-year Schengen ban if sent back forcefully.
The number of first time Albanian asylum seekers to EU member countries more than halved in 2016, but Albania remained for the second year in a row among the top 10 countries of citizenship seeking asylum protection in list dominated by war torn Asian and African countries and Russia.
Eurostat data shows the number of Albanian asylum seekers to EU countries dropped to 28,925 in 2016, down from a record 65,935 in 2015 when the country faced a massive exodus.
Germany was once again the main destination of asylum seekers with about 15,000 or half of total first time asylum applicants in EU member countries, down from a record 54,000 in 2015.
However, only two out of 100 Albanians who applied for asylum in EU member countries during the past couple of years have been granted protection under a final decision.
EU member countries, mainly the UK, France and Germany granted asylum status to some 1,780 Albanians in 2015 and 2016 out of a total applications of about 95,000, Eurostat says.
