STA, 1 December 2019 - The Slovenian police recorded 14,066 illegal crossings of the border in the first ten months of the year, which is almost 72% more than in the same period of 2018. The largest groups of migrants came from Pakistan, Algeria and Afghanistan.
August was the month with the highest number of illegal crossings of the border since the 2016 mass migrations, whereupon the number of monthly crossings started dropping as the weather started to deteriorate.
The number of people who expressed the wish to stay in Slovenia was also up. Some 4,441 expressed the intention to seek international protection on contact with the police, up from 3,952 in the year before.
But the statistics show most people treat Slovenia as a transit country, with many who submit formal requests leaving the country before their cases are heard.
Of the over 4,400 who expressed their intention to seek asylum, only 3,350 eventually did so and the vast majority of cases were suspended because people had left, presumably to other EU countries.
The actual number of asylum seekers staying in Slovenia is thus low relative to the overall number of migrants, show figures by the Government Office for the Support and Integration of Migrants.
On 28 November there were 335 persons in asylum centres awaiting the processing of their requests for international protection and 697 residing in Slovenia who have already been granted international protection
All figures below are from official police and Interior Ministry data.
Illegal crossings in January-October, by citizenship
2018 2019 -------------------------------- Pakistan 2,531 3,777 Algeria 832 1,752 Afghanistan 956 1,519 Morocco 343 1,112 Bangladesh 172 1,090 Syria 620 754 Iraq 466 694 Turkey 221 618 Iran 684 604 Croatia 274 301 Other 1,087 1,845 -------------------------------- TOTAL 8186 14,066
Illegal crossings and requests for asylum in 2018,
first ten months of 2019
Month Crossings Asylum requests
2018 2019 2018 2019
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January 248 319 172 205
February 210 326 223 216
March 210 1,075 129 356
April 644 1,389 274 334
May 1,286 1,306 365 404
June 1,043 1,266 267 287
July 1,119 1,793 287 387
August 1,152 2,379 381 388
September 999 1,988 256 356
October 1,275 2,225 201 417
November 722 170
December 358 150
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Total Jan-Oct 8,186 14,066
Persons returned to Slovenian police and persons returned
to foreign authorities by Slovenian police, Jan-Oct
Returned to Returned to
Slovenian police foreign authorities
Country 2018 2019 2018 2019
------------------------------------------------
Italy 343 235 59 68
Austria 29 77 16 13
Croatia 8 25 3,906 9,653
Hungary 18 5 5 2
Airport 150 211 30 25
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Total 548 553 4,016 9,761
Number of requests for asylum and their status in 2018,
first ten months of 2019
Status
2018 2019
------------------------------------------------
Requests 2,875 3,350
Requests for repeat procedure 40 25
Repeat procedure 27 47
Solved cases 2,886 3,234
Asylum granted 102 62
Asylum denied 135 102
Procedure suspended 2,372 2,792
Dismissed requests 277 278
Permanent move 40 0
Relocation 21 0 
