Minister of State László Felkai of the Ministry of Interior and Zsuzsanna Végh, the Director General of the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Nationality, presented the Office's report on 2012, and last year's characteristics of the migrant situation at a press conference.

According to Minister of State Felkai, the refugee issue currently divides Europe, since countries have been unable to find a “real, correct and morally standardized” way of treating the issue since 1990. He added, however, that at the same time European countries are united in the battle against illegal migration.

In connection with this, he also mentioned that Hungary has to guard the Serbian and Ukrainian borders “very seriously against illegal migration”. He remarked that a very effective tool of protection will be the thermal camera system that will “cover” these border-sections.

Zsuzsanna Végh talked about the alarming phenomenon that the number of underage children who arrive in Hungary without adult supervision increased by 200 per cent.

She explained that these minors are not limited in their freedom by the authorities in any way, on the contrary: they are accommodated in Hungarian child protection institutes. However, they usually leave within couple of days in order to find their parents, relatives or acquaintances who live in other countries.

According to the Director General, last year’s biggest challenge for the office was the growth of illegal migration. Compared to previous years, more people arrived in Hungary without valid permission.

She explained: it is not a new phenomenon and a challenge faced not only by Hungary, but by every single member state of the European Union. She added that increasing numbers of illegal immigrants arrive to the European Union from troubled regions, most significantly due to the situation is Syria.   
One of the main migration routes crosses the Hungarian-Serbian border, where many illegal immigrants try to enter the country, and illegal border crossing is helped by related human trafficking networks. She indicated that mainly Afghan, Pakistani, Algerian and Kosovar citizens enter the country, but most of them would like to travel further.

Parallel to the growth of illegal migration, the measures taken by the authorities have also increased, including last year approximately 6500 expulsion orders, court decisions and police actions.

According to the Director General, the Office of Immigration and Nationality took action in connection with 11 thousand law-breaking foreigners, while the police were involved in 12 thousand similar cases.

She also mentioned that on average the number of people who apply for asylum within the EU rose by 7 percent, while the same figure in Hungary increased by 27 percent; the Hungarian authorities registered 2154 cases last year. Most of the asylum seekers arrived from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kosovo, Syria and Somalia – mainly illegally.

The office of Immigration and Nationality had a one-billion-forint budget last year, out of which they used almost 250 million forints as financial support.
She also added that the host institutions are generally “highly occupied”, dealing with 547 people on a daily basis, 50 more than in the previous year. This data shows that more people arrive in Hungary and more people can stay for a longer period of time than before.

In Zsuzsanna Végh’s opinion, significant percentage of those who apply for asylum chose to do so to abuse the system.

The Director Deneral also mentioned the issue of legal migration. According to data from 31 December 2012, almost 214 thousand foreigners had a legal residence permit (exceeding 90 days) in Hungary. This is slightly less than in 2011, but some people who previously fell into this category have since become Hungarian citizens.

She explained that mainly people from China, Ukraine, Vietnam, Serbia and Egypt applied for a residence or permanent residence permit and most of them wanted to seek employment in Hungary. She also added that the number of those who come to Hungary to study is also still high.

(MTI; Ministry of Interior Press Department)