An Albanian women told RTÉ Prime Time that reason she claimed asylum in Ireland is because her boyfriend had abused when they lived in Greece. The woman said she had been caught illegally in Ireland with false documents and this had prompted her asy…
An Albanian women told RTÉ Prime Time that reason she claimed asylum in Ireland is because her boyfriend had abused when they lived in Greece. The woman said she had been caught illegally in Ireland with false documents and this had prompted her asylum claim.
According to the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), in the year to November 2018, the top two countries of origin for asylum seekers were Georgia and Albania which the Department of Justice regards as safe countries of origin.
Georgia has been a top country of origin for asylum seekers in Ireland since the EU granted Georgians visa-free travel to the Schengen area of the EU in March 2017, although Ireland is not in the Schengen area.
The Department of Justice told the Irish times that:
“Georgian nationals still required a visa to enter Ireland and the United Kingdom.”
“A trend emerged at this time, however, whereby Georgian nationals would travel to Ireland with onward tickets for other Schengen countries and appeared to be just transiting our airports.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/georgians-lead-irish-asylum-claims-1.3745515
Some 41 per cent of all asylum claims in the first half of the year were from Albanian, Georgian and South African nationals. All three countries are officially regarded as “safe countries of origin” by Ireland.
A spokesman for the Georgian embassy said Georgia was a developing democracy that was both “safe and stable”. He suggested that Georgians coming to Ireland were economic migrants.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/concern-over-rise-in-people-seeking-asylum-from-safe-countries-1.3986377
A spokesperson for the Department of Justice in 2018 told the Irish Times: “In Ireland the five leading applicant countries for 2017 were Georgia, Albania, Pakistan, Nigeria and Zimbabwe which are not acknowledged conflict zones with high grant rates.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/khaled-s-story-direct-provision-is-like-living-in-a-..
