Nationals of Venezuela, Colombia and Peru accounted for 78% of registered asylum applications Spain Last year, the total number of asylum and refugee offices rose to 163,218, 37% more than the previous year and the highest number since the institution was founded in 1992.
According to preliminary data closed on December 31st and published this Thursday by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior, the Asylum and Refugee Office of the said ministry received 163,218 applications for international protection in 2023, A number that classifies Spain as a third country receiving international protection in the European Union.
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Three Latin American countries concentrated 78.6% of registered files: Venezuelarepresents 37% of the total with 60,534 requests, followed by Colombiawith 53,564 applications, and Peruwith 14,306.
Depending on the reception location, the Madrid's community tops the list with the most requests with 52,684, followed by Andalusia (25,948) and Catalonia (14,775).
Last year, the Interior Ministry processed a total of 92,963 international protection applications, an increase of 1.8% compared to the previous year.
7,521 refugee statuses were granted, an all-time high
During this period, 7,521 refugee statuses were granted, which is also a record number and accounts for 26.5% of all refugee statuses granted by the Asylum and Refugee Office since 2012.
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The nationalities that were granted the most were those of Afghanistan, Syria, Nicaragua, Colombia and Honduras.
In 2023, 3,850 people applied for subsidiary protection, mostly from Mali41,478 citizens, mostly Venezuelans, received residence and work permits for humanitarian reasons.
According to these figures, the rate of recognition of refugee status and subsidiary protection is higher It is 12.23% and that of international protection is 56.85%.
195,000 people displaced by the Ukraine war with temporary protection
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According to the Interior Ministry, the Asylum and Refugee Office granted the temporary protection scheme to 33,928 people in 2023, bringing the number of citizens displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine who fall under this figure in Spain to almost 195,000.
The Spanish government initiated this emergency procedure in March 2022, days after the outbreak of war.
During the past year, 953 applications for recognition of stateless status were also submitted and 1,022 dossiers related to this procedure were resolved, with the aim of identifying persons who are not considered nationals by any state and who claim to have no nationality.