First-time asylum applicants for international protection (as defined by Article 2(h) of Qualification Directive 2011/95/EU) are persons who lodged an application for asylum for the first time in a given Member State during the reference period. The term 'first-time' implies no time limitation and therefore person can be recorded as first-time applicant only if he or she had never applied for international protection in the reporting country in the past, irrespective of the fact that he is found to have applied in another Member State of the European Union. Subsequent and reopened applicants shall never be reported under this table.
The provision of these statistics is voluntary for all countries, as the migration statistics legislation relates to the broader group i.e. all persons having submitted an application for international protection or having been included in such an application as a family member in the reference period of one month.
Related concepts
- Application for international protection
- Asylum
- Asylum decision
- Asylum recognition rate
- Dublin statistics
- Foreign population
- Migration