In 2023, the Spanish Asylum and Residency Office (OAR) resolved 92,963 cases, including 1,022 stateless status cases and more than 33,900 temporary protection cases granted to people displaced by the Russian occupation of Ukraine. Successful.
In the same year, the Interior Ministry’s OAR recorded a record high of 163,218 applications for international protection, an increase of 37% from the previous year and the highest number of applications since the agency was established in 1992, SchengenVisaInfo.com reported.
According to provisional data as of December 31, Spain is currently the country in the European Union with the third highest number of applications for international protection.
By nationality, Venezuela topped the list with 60,534 applications, accounting for 37% of the total, followed by Colombia with 53,564 and Peru with 14,306. These three countries account for 78.6 percent of all applications processed.
Madrid leads the way with 52,684 international protection applications
According to data provided by OAR, last year the Community of Madrid filed 52,684 applications for international protection, followed by Andalusia (25,948) and Catalonia (14,775). The Home Office resolved 92,963 international protection files for him, an increase of 1.8% on the previous year.
Additionally, a record 7,521 people were granted refugee status, accounting for 26.5 percent of the total OAR since 2012 (28,232 people). The top five nationalities that received the status were Afghanistan, Syria, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Honduras. Supplementary protection was granted to 3,850 people, mainly from Mali. Additionally, 41,478 nationals, mostly Venezuelans, received one-year residence and work permits on humanitarian grounds.
The refugee status and subsidiary protection recognition rate was 12.23 percent, and the overall international protection rate was 56.85 percent.
In 2023, 953 applications for statelessness were filed and 1,022 were resolved.
Statelessness is a process designed to identify applicants who are not recognized as citizens by any state in accordance with the laws of any state. These individuals declare their lack of nationality in accordance with the provisions outlined in the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons convened in New York on September 28, 1954.
In 2023, the OAR extended temporary protection to 33,928 people, bringing the total number of Spanish residents subject to this measure to nearly 195,000 due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In this regard, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca praised Spain’s “extraordinary efforts” in international protection, saying that in 2023 the number of applications will exceed 163,000 and that the country will have the highest number of applications since the creation of the OAR in 1992. It was the highest ever. He also praised Spain’s “extraordinary efforts” in international protection. Ten years ago, compared to 2013, the number of applications increased by 3,500%.