Author
Overview of statistical practice
The Asylum Service, a department of the Ministry of Interior, is the authority responsible for asylum-related statistical collection in Cyprus. The below statistics have been provided by the Asylum Service.
Applications and granting of protection status at first instance: 2022
| Applicants in 2022 | Pending at end of 2022 | Refugee status | Subsidiary protection | Rejection | Refugee rate | Sub. Prot. rate | Rejection rate | |
| Total | 22,182 | 29,715 | 331 | 227 | 8,509 | 3.7% | 2.5% | 93.8% |
Breakdown by countries of origin of the total numbers
| Syria | 4,105 | 9,477 | 8 | 159 | 0 | 4.8% | 95.2% | 0% |
| Nigeria | 3,148 | 3,788 | 11 | 0 | 670 | 1.6% | 0% | 98.4% |
| DRC | 3,032 | 4,369 | 12 | 3 | 480 | 2.4 | 0.6% | 97% |
| Pakistan | 2,018 | 448 | 13 | 0 | 2,046 | 0.6% | 0% | 99.4% |
| Afghanistan | 1,603 | 1,664 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 0% | 0% |
| Bangladesh | 1,441 | 379 | 2 | 0 | 1,368 | 0.1% | 0% | 99.9% |
| Cameroon | 1,049 | 2,948 | 46 | 9 | 458 | 9% | 1.7% | 89.3% |
| Somalia | 1,026 | 1,521 | 26 | 24 | 98 | 17.6% | 16.2% | 66.2% |
| India | 727 | 444 | 0 | 0 | 950 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| Nepal | 462 | 320 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
Source: Asylum Service.
Gender/age breakdown of the total number of applicants: 2022
| Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of applicants | 22,182 | 100% |
| Men | n/a | – |
| Women | n/a | – |
| Children | n/a | – |
| Unaccompanied children | 941 | 4.2% |
Source: Asylum Service.
Comparison between first instance and appeal decision rates: 2022
| First instance | Appeal | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| Total number of decisions | 15,193* | 100% | 8,772* | 100% |
| Positive decisions | ||||
|
202 | 1.3% | 7 | 0.08% |
|
177 | 1.2% | 1 | 0.01% |
| Negative decisions | 8,178 | 53.8% | 4220 | 48.1% |
* The total number of decisions includes all decisions issued by the Asylum service and the IPAC, including positive decisions, rejections, implicit and explicit withdrawals and decisions on inadmissible applications.
Source: Asylum Service and IPAC.
Note: If the IPAC accepts the appeal, the decision of the Asylum Service will be cancelled. The IPAC has the jurisdiction to return the decision to the Asylum Service to be reviewed and a new decision issued or the IPAC may grant refugee status or subsidiary protection.[1]
International Protection Administrative Court (IPAC): At the end of 2020, there were 1,100 pending appeals before the IPAC. Throughout 2021, the number of pending appeals registered a sharp increase, reaching a total of 6,537 at the end of the year. In December 2022, the number of pending appeals in both the regular and accelerated procedure had reached 6,609, corresponding to 6,814 persons.
Refugee Reviewing Authority: Operations ceased in December 2020 and at the time 432 cases involving a total of 665 persons were not concluded and were transferred back to the Asylum Service. In 2022 the Asylum Service set up a team to examine these cases. However at the end of 2022, limited progress had been made.
[1] Article 11 IPAC Law.