The border closures associated with the coronavirus pandemic significantly affected the state of migration and asylum in the EU in 2020. The newly released Annual Report on Migration and Asylum 2020 published by the European Migration Network notes that the number of legal migrants and asylum applicants declined substantially in comparison to 2019 while the number of returns from the EU were for the most part lower. The report does not contain data for all EU member states which prevents a calculation of an EU average but it does make it possible to detect certain trends.
Visa and stay permits
Preliminary data unveiled by the report shows that the number of first stay permits issued decreased by varying degrees in most countries ranging from 16% in Luxembourg, 20% in France, 30% in Austria to 50% in Latvia. The report’s authors explained the decrease was in part a result of the issuing of long-stay visas being resumed by member states. The total number of visas issued by member states saw an even more dramatic fall as shown in the table below.
Fig. 1. Total visas issued by member countries and Norway in 2019 and 2020 (including short-stay visas and national long-stay visas)
Labor migration
Qualified labor migration remained a priority for EU member states in 2020. Many countries introduced various regulations to attract highly skilled workers in response to the needs of their labor markets. Several member countries permitted certain categories of qualified workers, including healthcare professionals, to enter the country despite the pandemic-related limitations. Others, such as Finland, improved their internal procedures to speed up the processing time of applications submitted by special experts and start-up entrepreneurs and their family members by two weeks.
With regard to low and medium-skilled workers, different measures were introduced to tackle shortages in the labor market. Ireland, for instance, allowed all migrant chefs to become eligible for employment permits in view of the pressure the country was facing regarding the availability of chefs. Other member states either changed or removed certain requirements for migrant workers. Thus, Belgium’s Walloon government updated the list of professionals the country needed who would be free from the obligation of examination.
Response to asylum applicants
The pandemic-related travel restrictions affected the number of third-country asylum seekers entering the EU with the number of applications declining by 32.6% to 471,640 in 2020 in comparison to 698,765 in 2019. The number of asylum decisions surpassed the number of applications for the first time since 2017 which, the report notes, “indicates that member states managed to maintain processing, despite the particularly difficult circumstances in 2020.”
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, in many cases newly arrived refugees were required to observe a quarantine period. Several countries moved applicants from shared accommodation to apartments while others provided self-isolation amenities within centers and offsite. France presented a plan that aimed to fund the construction of 4,500 living spaces for asylum seekers. Several countries implemented measures to avoid overcrowding, for example, Belgium provided meal vouchers to residents who had found an accommodation solution.
Fig.2. Asylum applications in the EU 27: January 2016-December 2020
Returns to third countries
The total number of third-country nationals ordered to leave EU states practically halved in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Eurostat data. This can partly be explained by the impact of the COVID-19 measures, in particular travel restrictions. Nevertheless, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, and Portugal reported an increase in the number of returns whereas others, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Malta, issued the same number of return orders. Most of the forced returns were male, the report noted.
Fig.3. Third-country nationals returned to a third country following an order to leave – EU27 (2016-2020)
