More than 7,000 refugees from Ukraine arrived in Luxembourg between March and November 2022, according to the latest data available. More than 5,200 applied for temporary protection, an EU mechanism that allows them to live and work in the country for one year. This can be renewed twice for a maximum of three years.
The country last year set up temporary shelters at the LuxExpo exhibition centre and in tented halls located in Kirchberg’s European quarter, with communes dotted around the country renting hotels and making other space available to accommodate the arrivals.
An asylum seeker shelter in Kirchberg offering an additional 120 beds opened on Monday. Bathrooms, laundry facilities, dining and leisure areas are shared between occupants who can stay at the centre while they wait for their application for international protection to be processed, a press release said.
Luxembourg often struggles to empty its shelters once asylum seekers are granted the right to stay as they find it difficult to secure housing in the country’s expensive real estate market.
The facilities managed by Luxembourg’s national welcome office (ONA) for asylum seekers are at nearly 88% capacity, with 4,295 people housed by the ONA at the end of last year. Shelters can never be run at full capacity as rooms are divided by families and sexes, meaning not all beds can be filled.
In addition, the ONA now manages 11 sites housing 1,178 refugees from Ukraine.
During the first quarter of 2023 more than 230 additional beds will become available at shelters in Hollerich, the Pfaffenthal, Kirchberg and Differdange.
LuxExpo will be making space available between January and February in case of emergency, the foreign ministry said. The events venue last year for moving refugees from Ukraine out of its premises. It later said that its agreement with the government had always been temporary and subject to its exhibition calendar.
Foreign minister Asselborn (LSAP) on Wednesday issued a renewed call to communes to make buildings available to the ONA.