140 people officially applied for “international protection” (as it’s legally known) last month, bringing the year’s cumulative total to 938 as of 31 May 2019. That’s according to government figures (PDF) published on 17 June.

This figure does not include all of the refugees who have arrived in the country, the immigration service said. “Several people housed by Olai [the government’s integration agency] have not yet submitted their formal request for international protection to the immigration service,” the latter agency stated.

At 938, the total number of asylum seekers for the January-May 2019 timeframe is higher than the same period last year (699) but below 2017’s figure (1,062).

While the total number of asylum filings was higher than the same period last year, May’s monthly total was the lowest of 2019. The figures were 226 in January, 182 in February, 220 in March and 170 in April.

Eritrean nationals represented 31.8% of international protection applications during the first five months of 2019. Syrians represented 8.7% of filings, Afghans were 7.2%, Iraqis were 6.7% and Algerians were 3.9%.

Refugee rulings

Between January and May 2019, the immigration service delivered 316 asylum application rulings: 36.2% were transferred to another EU country under European rules; 32.1% were successful; 16.4% were refused; 9.8% were withdrawn by the applicant; and 5.4% were declared inadmissible.

The immigration service said that so far this year 76 people were deported from Luxembourg, including 18 who were “involuntarily returned”.