Romania has registered a record number of asylum requests last year. The number of asylum seekers in Romania, 5,000, was higher in 2017 than during the previous ten years, according to Mircea Babau from the General Immigration Inspectorate – the Asylum & Integration division.

Most of the asylum seekers came to Romania through the Serbian border. The Immigration center in Timisoara received 3,800 asylum requests, local Digi24 reported.

The number continues to be high in 2018, when the state has already received 580 asylum requests, an average of over 100 per month.

Romania is working on a voluntary repatriation and reintegration program (RVAR), under which it created eight immigration information points which informed over 900 migrants already. Some 100 were repatriated.

The Romanian branch of the International Migration Organization had to respond to the current situation in Romania, with a high number of foreigners currently in public custody places and in regional asylum places.

“Our main role here is to inform and counsel for voluntary repatriation,” said Maria Voica of the IMO, during a seminar.

Number of asylum requests in Romania more than doubles in 2017

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