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| Official Greek statistics for foreigners with a residence permit in Greece, Albanians lead with 60.1 of the total. |
Greece is being evaluated as a less attractive destination for Albanian emigration, unlike previous years when it had the largest number of Albanians with residence permits and the largest number of Albanian refugees entering Greek territory without documents from the green border.
Data from the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum for the first three months of 2023 show that the number of Albanian citizens with residence permits in Greece in March of this year was around 281,000, accounting for 60.1% of foreigners with regular residence permits in the country, local media say.
The number of Albanians with residence permits in Greece in March of this year is significantly lower than March 2022, when according to data from the Greek Ministry of Migration there were about 419,000 Albanians with residence permits, accounting for 62.6% of regular foreigners in Greece.
The significant decrease in the number of regular Albanian immigrants in Greece according to migration analysts is linked to several factors.
The most important factor in the decrease in the number of Albanians in Greece is considered a new trend of Albanian immigrants who have been working and living in Greece for years to migrate to other European countries.
The new migration of the second generation has become a phenomenon as many young Albanians are now leaving Greece for countries such as England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Northern Europe, due to difficulties with employment and low wages in Greece.
The decrease in Albanian emigration to Greece also has a significant impact on Albanian border areas with the neighboring country. Immigrants who are now leaving Greece for European countries no longer return to their areas in Albania for seasonal work as they did before, deepening the abandonment of many villages, especially by young people.
Meanwhile, other factors contributing to the decline in the number of Albanians with residence permits are related to the slow procedures for issuing permits, while a category of second-generation Albanian immigrants has gained Greek citizenship and no longer applies for residence permits.
Data from the Greek Ministry of Migration also show a significant decline in irregular Albanian migration to Greece and requests for asylum for the first three months of this year.
While a few years ago Albanians topped the list of irregular foreigners entering Greece, according to the Greek Ministry of Migration they are no longer ranked from January to March 2023 among the top 10 countries with the largest number of irregular foreigners entering Greece.
According to the Greek Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, in December 2022, Albanians ranked eighth in the list of ten countries with requests for asylum where they submitted 1,289 requests with about 3.5% of the total of 37,362 that were submitted by foreigners.
Until December 2022, Albanians also constituted a high number of appeals after the rejection of asylum in the first instance with 1,494 requests which constituted about 8.9% of the 16,830 appeals for asylum from foreigners in Greece for 2022.
But in the January-February period of this year, the number of applications for asylum from Albanians in Greece dropped significantly to around 80 requests overall.
Even the number of appeals for the January-March quarter of this year from Albanians who were refused asylum by the Greek authorities was only 185 requests.
According to the data of the Greek Ministry for Migration and Asylum, Albanians constitute the category with the smallest number of recognitions of asylum requests, with about 0.25% of cases. This is since Greece for several years considers Albania as a "safe country" and there are fewer and fewer opportunities for Albanian citizens to be referred to asylum.
According to the Albanian immigrants themselves who apply for asylum, in many cases, their requests are related to avoiding deportation to Albania..