COUNTRY FACTSHEET: ROMANIA 2014 EUROPEAN MIGRATION NETWORK 1. Introduction This EMN Country Factsheet provides a factual overview of the main policy developments in migration and international protection in Romania during 2014, including latest statistics. 2. Common European Asylum System Following the massive influx of asylum seekers from Syria and based on a risk analysis of the conflict, as well as of the situation on immigration and asylum in the region (Greece and Bulgaria), a draft Government decision on management of a high influx of asylum seekers/illegal immigrants on the territory of Romania was prepared in 2014. The document provides for the obligations of other central public authorities (Ministry of Public Finance, Ministry of Health, Ministry of National Defence, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transportation, Ministry of National Education and Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Elderly) as well as local authorities (prefectures), and resources to be made available for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and/or General Inspectorate for Immigration, including accommodation places. Overall, three stages regarding the increase of accommodation capacity of the regional reception centres were established: The first stage refers to an increase of the number of beds in the existing regional reception centres (up to 1230); Second stage refers to temporary transfer of buildings and premises as well as necessary materials, goods and furniture from the Ministry of Internal Affairs into the administration of the General Inspectorate for Immigration in order to maintain the reception standards (up to 3500) and; The third stage concerns the implementation of the Government decision on management of a high influx of asylum seekers/illegal immigrants on the territory of Romania. Also, in 2014 several draft amendments were introduced to transpose the re-cast Asylum Procedures and Reception Conditions Directives. Amongst others, these include provisions regarding: deadlines for asylum applications, including longer deadlines for lodging an appeal against negative decisions; training for the responsible authorities; access to information, legal counselling and interpretation services; possibility for a suspension of the transfer decision; detention measures were also regulated for international protection applicants who present a risk of absconding. It was further reported that the number of transfers made from Romania to other Member States, has decreased due to the fact that most of the applicants abscond shortly after applying for international protection. Provisions regarding the reception conditions included, amongst others: the right to work, access to pre-school education, accommodation of asylum seekers, health services, and definitions on the material for reception conditions. Also in 2014, as part of Romania s resettlement programme, a total of 40 Iraqi refugees from Turkey arrived in Romania and were provided with integration assistance. Furthermore, the Government Decision no. 1596/2008 on the resettlement of refugees in Romania was amended in 2014, in order to establish the resettlement quotas for the years 2014 2015. As a result the resettlement quotas for the years 2014 and 2015 were set to receive 20 people per year. Amendments to the Law on Asylum were also introduced in August 2014, to create the necessary national legal framework for the implementation of the Dublin III Regulation no 604/2013. Romania also continued its participation in the pilot project EUREMA I and II. Migration & Home Affairs
3. Unaccompanied Minors and other Vulnerable Groups Amendments introduced to transpose the re-cast Asylum Procedures and Reception Conditions Directives also considered to further enhance both the collaboration of local public administration authorities responsible for promoting and securing children s rights, as well as information exchange with Member States, in order to identify family members or unaccompanied minors relatives, while taking in consideration the best interests of the child. In addition, new legislative amendments provide that when considering the decision of accommodation of UAMs who are siblings, the principle of family unity will be taken into account during the consultation undertaken with Asylum & Integration Directorate and the UAMs legal representative, while the age and maturity of the oldest sibling shall also be considered. Furthermore, new provisions also explicitly establish the right of UAMs - which are asylum seekers- to access to pre-school education under the same conditions as Romanian citizens minors. 4. European Policy on Legal migration and Integration 4.1. PROMOTING LEGAL MIGRATION CHANNELS The draft new National Immigration Strategy 2015-2018 (replacing the National Strategy on Immigration for the period 2007-2014) was drafted in 2014 and its approval was expected in 2015. The strategy has established specific objectives regarding a better dissemination of information on the possibilities and conditions of legal immigration to Romania. These include amongst others: information campaigns on legal admission procedures, collaboration and involvement of Romanian diplomatic missions abroad and foreign embassies in Romania. 4.2. ECONOMIC MIGRATION Ordinance 25 of 26 August 2014 on employment and posting of third-country nationals in Romania transposed the Single Permit Directive (2011/98/EU) as well as certain provisions of the Employer Sanctions Directive (2009/52/EU). The new law introduced provisions such as: the obligation for employers to get an employment approval in order to hire a third-country national in a certain job position. The employment approval shall be issued upon the employer s request, provided that certain general and special conditions are fulfilled, according to each type of worker. Also, a set of facilities when granting the employment approval for some thirdcountry nationals who were already admitted on the labour market in Romania are also provided. In addition, limited situations which exempt third-country nationals from the employment approval are also provided, these mainly focus on those categories regulated by specific bilateral agreements signed with Romania with third-countries, third-country nationals with different granted residence rights (e.g. long stay, family reunification, students and researchers etc.). The Ordinance also introduced new provisions regulating temporary stay for study purposes. Students and pupils now may request an extension for their right to stay equivalent to the same period foreseen for the studies, as well as the possibility to stay after their graduation. However, students must prove their means of subsistence, hence a minimum gross salary for at least six months from the application date. Third-country nationals who benefit from scholarships awarded by Romanian Government and those who have a Romanian origin are exempted from proving the means of subsistence. The new National Immigration Strategy, as one of its general objectives, aims at the promotion of legal migration, while one of its specific objectives refers to the facilitation of the admission of third-country nationals who respond to the needs of the national labour market, including the creation of the legal framework to attract and keep the migrant labour force according to the identified needs. Moreover, entrepreneurial initiatives of third-country nationals will be facilitated by ensuring their continued stay in Romania and by facilitating access to information and opportunities of participation to professional networks. Measures regarding encouragement of investments, job creation and encouragement of competitiveness will also be undertaken to accelerate economic growth. 4.3. FAMILY REUNIFICATION Ordinance 25 of 26 August 2014 on employment and posting of third-country nationals in Romania also provided third-country nationals, who are family members of Romanian citizens, the right to request a visa free of taxes. In addition, the new Ordinance eased the requirements for short stay visa applications for third-country nationals who are family members of Romanian citizens (spouses, direct descendants up to 21 years old, as well as direct ascendants of the Romanian citizen or his/her spouse who are his/her dependants). 4.4. INTEGRATION The draft National Immigration Strategy 2015-2018 provides specific services for third-country nationals residing or domiciled on Romania s territory in order to facilitate their integration. Overall the strategy sets a new social integration policy aiming at the creation of a multicultural, open and welcoming society. The integration activities include: annual studies and scientific research on integration, multicultural events awareness raising campaigns, Romanian language courses, cultural orientation programmes and 2
counselling to access other services and social policies, under similar conditions as Romanian citizens. 4.5. MANAGING MIGRATION AND MOBILITY 1 In order to facilitate the visa application process, Romania launched the electronic portal evisa-. The portal, operational since 17 th April 2014, allows for the lodging of online Romanian visa applications, without supplementary costs for third-country nationals. The portal is available 24/7 and it also provides information to individuals on the relevant Romanian legislation in relation to visas and concerning the protection of personal data. 4.6. EXTERNAL DIMENSION OF EU MIGRATION POLICY Following the JHA Council of 9 to 10 October 2014 the Joint Declaration on the conclusion of a Mobility partnership between the EU and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was signed. Romania was one of the signatories, given the status of privileged partner for Romania. 5. Irregular Migration and Return 5.1. THE FIGHT AGAINST FACILITATION OF IRREGULAR MIGRATION During 2014, Romania continued to participate and collaborate in Frontex training activities. For example, Romania, as a hosting country, organised 10 training activities with 113 foreign border guards. In addition, the Romanian Border Police continued cooperation activities with neighbouring countries particularly with Ukraine, Serbia and Moldova. In 2014, the Romanian Border Police also reported 103 forged documents, from which 22 were from Syria, 14 Guiney, 12 Bulgarian and 12 Romanian. Also eight counterfeited passports and 93 look-alikes were also reported. Specific training and courses have been provided to border officers on the identification of security features for travel and identification documents as well as the identification of false or counterfeited documents. However, Romania reported that one of the most significant challenges the Member State faces in the field of smuggling, is the uncertainty of the nationality of the undocumented irregular migrants detected at the border. Cases were reported in which irregular migrants claimed to be Syrians, while holding different nationality, to apply for asylum in Romania to facilitate the process to receive refugee status. monitoring mechanism of forced return operations has been established. According with these new provisions, the forced return operations can be monitored by Romanian/international NGOs or international organisations working on the migration policy. Moreover, in order to increase the visibility and transparency of the actions carried out as part of the forced return operations, the General Inspectorate for Immigration would provide information on the forced return operations and would allow representatives of Romanian/international NGOs or international organisations to monitor the activities carried out. Finally, Romania reported that following an emergency call on 15 th October 2014, the Coast Guard Constanta undertook a search and rescue operation on deep Black Sea waters. After 110 hours the Border Guard vessel rescued 88 migrants (24 Afghans, 4 Syrians, 55 Iraqi and 5 Iranians). 6. Actions against Trafficking in Human Beings The National Strategy against Trafficking in Persons for the period 2012 2016 continued to be implemented along 2014. While the purpose of the Strategy is to reduce the impact and dimensions of trafficking in human beings at the national level, one of its main objectives is to improve the quality of protection and assistance for the victims of trafficking in persons in the view of their social reintegration. Hence, during 2014 the following assistance services were provided to victims of trafficking in human beings: accommodation in assistance centres and other types of residential centres, medical assistance, psychological counselling, financial assistance, material assistance (clothes, medicine, food, and hygienic product), counselling/legal assistance, school reintegration, professional counselling, retraining and work reintegration. STATISTICAL ANNEX The Statistical Annex provides an overview of the latest available statistics for Romania on aspects of migration and asylum (2011-2014), including residence, asylum, unaccompanied minors, irregular migration, return and visas. Where statistics are not yet available, this is indicated in the Annex as N/I and when statistics are not applicable, this is indicated as N/A. Ordinance 25 of 26 August 2014 on employment and posting of third-country nationals in Romania also transposed certain provisions to comply with the Return Directive (2008/115/EU). For example, a 1 Managing migration and mobility refers to the following themes: visa policy, Schengen governance and border monitoring. 3
Statistical Annex: Immigration and Asylum in Romania (2011-2014) 1. COMMON EUROPEAN ASYLUM SYSTEM Figure 1: Asylum applications as a share of the total population in Romania, EU average and EU high and low (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 20/07/2015 Figure 2: Number of asylum applications and as a share of the total number of applications in the EU (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015 Table 1: Asylum applications: Top five third-country nationalities (2011 2014) Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Nr % of total Nationality Algeria 460 27% Algeria 600 24% Syria 1,010 68% Syria 615 40% Morocco 215 13% Tunisia 215 13% Morocco 355 14% Iraq 45 3% Afghanistan 280 18% Pakistan 145 8% Pakistan 335 13% Afghanistan 40 3% Pakistan 40 3% Iraq 210 14% Afghanistan 105 6% Syria 245 10% Egypt 30 2% Iran 60 4% Georgia 25 2% Iraq 60 3% Iran 25 2% Afghanistan 200 8% Palestine 25 2% Moldova 60 3% Turkey 25 2% Pakistan 45 3% Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015 Figure 3: Asylum applications: Top five third-country nationalities as a share of EU total per given nationality (2014) Nr % of total Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyappctza), data extracted 21/07/2015 4
Table 2: Asylum applications - First instance decisions by outcome (2011-2014) Of which: Total Positive Humanitarian Negative Refugee Subsidiary decisions decisions reasons decisions status protection 2011 1,080 75 70 10 0 1,000 2012 1,625 230 145 85 0 1,395 2013 1,435 915 385 530 5 515 2014 1,585 740 370 370 0 845 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 22/07/2015. Figures 4-7: Asylum applications - First instance decisions by outcome (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 22/07/2015 Figure 8: Negative decision rate for the top five nationalities of applicants at the first instance in comparison with EU for the same given nationality (2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asydcfsta), data extracted 23/07/2015 Figure 9: Third-country nationals resettled Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_asyresa), data extracted 23/07/2015 5
2. UNACCOMPANIED MINORS Figure 10: Unaccompanied minors applying for asylum (2011-2014) Table 3: Unaccompanied minors (2011-2014) Unaccompanied minors (total) N/A N/A N/A N/A Unaccompanied minor asylum 55 135 15 95 applicants Source: Eurostat Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex Annual data (rounded) [migr_asyunaa], data extracted 23/07/2015 3. EUROPEAN POLICY ON LEGAL MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION Figure 11: First residence permits, by reason (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat (migr_resfirst), data extracted 25/08/2015 Table 4: First residence permits: Top five third-country nationalities (2011 2014) 1. Moldova 2,764 1. Moldova 2,105 1. Moldova 1,909 1. Moldova 1,401 2. Turkey 1,012 2. Turkey 1,284 2. Syria 1,341 2. Turkey 1,129 3. China 915 3. China 905 3. Turkey 1,261 3. China 980 4. USA 497 4. Syria 644 4. China 966 4. Syria 782 5. Israel 338 5. Israel 475 5. USA 520 5. USA 508 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_resfirst), data extracted 24/08/2015 Figure 12: Resident population of third-country nationals as a share of total population in Romania, EU average, EU high and low (2011-2014) Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_pop1ctz), data extracted 23/07/2015 6
4. IRREGULAR MIGRATION AND RETURN Table 5: Number of third-country nationals refused entry at external borders (2011 2014) Third country nationals: Refused entry at external borders 3,620 3,340 3,410 4,045 Found to be illegally present 3,365 2,145 2,400 2,335 Ordered to leave 3,095 3,015 2,245 2,030 Returned following an order to leave 2,875 2,890 2,235 2,085 Source: Eurostat migration statistics (migr_eirfs)(migr_eipre)(migr_eiord)(migr_eirtn), data extracted 24/07/2015 Table 6: Third-country nationals returned (2011-2014) Returned as part of forced return measures Returned voluntarily Returned through an Assisted Voluntary Return Programme 2011 410 130 155** 2012 710 2,186 311** 2013 305 1,929 200** 2014* 296 1,796 94 Source: EMN Country Factsheet 2013 and *EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum 2014, Statistic Annex; ** Data provided by EMN RO NCP 5. SECURING EUROPE S EXTERNAL BORDERS Table 7: Number of visas issued by type (2011-2014) Total visas N/I 159,866 N/I 9,043 Schengen visa (short-stay visas) N/A N/A N/A N/A National visa 8,770 159,866 153,351 9,043 Source: EMN Country Factsheet 2013 and *EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum 2014, Statistic Annex Figure 13: Uniform visa applications received in Romania as a share of the total number of uniform visa applications in all Schengen states consulates (2011-2014) Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Complete statistics on short-stay visas issued by the Schengen States Table 8: Top five countries in which the highest number of visa applications for Romania was lodged Country Number Country Number Country Number Country Number Moldova 50,836 N/I N/I N/I N/I Ukraine 22,674 Turkey 19,929 N/I N/I N/I N/I Turkey 17,518 Russia 10,607 N/I N/I N/I N/I Moldova 11,663 Ukraine 9,667 N/I N/I N/I N/I Russia 5,838 China 3,758 N/I N/I N/I N/I China 4,024 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs 6. ACTIONS AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS Table 9: Number of traffickers arrested as suspects and traffickers convicted * Investigations N/I N/I N/I 1,438 Convictions N/I N/I N/I 269 Arrested / otherwise involved in a N/I N/I N/I 534 criminal proceeding Source: *EMN Annual Policy Report on Immigration and Asylum 2014, Statistic Annex 7
7. ASYLUM AND MIGRATION EU FUNDING SOURCES (2007-2013 AND 2014-2020) Table 10: Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) allocation in euro per area Areas AMIF 2014-2020 Asylum 7,292,500 Legal Migration and Integration 6,401,250 Return 7,927,127 Technical Assistance 2,090,000 Special cases (resettlement/transfer) 580,000 TOTAL 24,430,877 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Table 11: Internal Security Fund (ISF) allocation in euro per area Areas ISF 2014-2020 ISF Borders 61,151,568 ISF SA Frontex 180,000 ISF SA Consular cooperation - ISF Borders Emergency Assistance - ISF Police 37,150,105 TOTAL 98,481,673 Source: DG Migration and Home affairs Table 12: SOLID funds allocation in euro and share of total funds allocated to Romania (2007-2013) SOLID FUNDS 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 TOTAL European Refugee Fund (ERF) N/A 663,727 (0.9%) 621,471 (0.6%) 701,106 (0.7%) 744,465 (0.8%) 774,919 (0.7%) 872,956 (0.8%) 4,378,646 (0.8%) European Return Fund (RF) N/A 770,622 (1.4%) 797,412 (1.3%) 1,032,722 (1.3%) 1,560,502 (1.4%) 2,295,060 (1.5%) 2,585,187 (1.5%) 9,041,505 (1.4%) European Fund for the Integration of TCN 761,525 (1.2%) 780,703 (1%) 2,170,721 (2.2%) 983,133 (0.9%) 1,155,030 (0.9%) 1,471,644 (0.9%) 1,196,139 (0.6%) 8,518,896 (1%) (EIF) External Borders Fund (EBF) N/A N/A N/A 10,210,362 (5.3%) 12,343,864 (5.2%) 16,697,659 (5.2%) 20,215,184 (4.8%) 59,467,068 (3.7%) Source: DG Migration and Home affairs 8