More than 1,600 foreign citizens tried to cross the Romanian borders illegally in 2016, 1,075 of whom tried to enter Romania and 549 wanted to leave the country, according to a report of the Romanian Border Police.

The Police discovered 351 groups of migrants last year, and identified 140 people smugglers.

Almost 200 of the migrants caught last year tried to cross the border hidden in vehicles, 1,031 were caught acting illegally at the green border, and 396 tried to cross the border illegally using other methods such as false travel documents, or by trying to avoid border control.

In terms of nationality, most of the migrants came from countries such as Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Kosovo, Albania, Sri Lanka, Morocco, and Egypt.

Moreover, in 2016, the Border Police didn’t allow 530 foreign citizens to enter Romania because they didn’t meet the legal conditions of entry.

“Among the main reasons for which the measure of not allowing them to enter the country was taken, there was: they didn’t have a valid visa or a valid residence permit, or they didn’t have the necessary documentation to justify the purpose and conditions of stay,” reads the Border Police’s report.

Also, 164 foreigners who were flagged as a threat to public order, national security, public health or international relations were also kept from entering Romania. Moreover, 2,959 wanted persons, both foreigners and Romanian citizens, were identified at the borders and handed over to the competent authorities.

Some 56.4 million people crossed Romania’s borders last year, up 22.3% over 2015. Most of them, namely 46.97 million were EU citizens, and 9.43 million were non-EU citizens.

Romania has over 60,000 legal immigrants from outside the EU

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com