Romania previously awarded refugee status and subsidiary protection to applicants from countries such as Syria and Iraq, who made up the majority of positive decisions in 2017. However, the trend with regard to Iraqi nationals changed during 2017 when the recognition rate for Iraqi nationals was 66.4%, it dropped to 35% in 2018 and in 2019 dropped further to 10.9%.
In 2022, as in previous years, inTimișoara it was reported that all Syrian nationals were granted a form of protection. In Giurgiu, Rădăuţi, Şomcuta Mare and Galati asylum applications of Syrian nationals are also rejected, according to the directors of these centres. In Rădăuţi the majority of Syrian asylum seekers are rejected, including unaccompanied children; only one or two were granted a form of protection. In Galati only a few Syrian national asylum seekers’ applications were rejected.