Cyprus Mail 18 June 2020 - by Evie Andreou
Interior Minister Nicos Nouris
Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said on Thursday the numbers of third-country nationals studying in Cyprus will be cut as he announced the government’s new policy in tackling the large migration flows to the island.
The measures include cutting student visas for third-country nationals as many supposed students go on to apply for asylum, stricter controls on municipalities as regards civil marriages to avoid sham marriages, and significantly reducing the time it takes to examine asylum applications and rejection appeals.
The minister said that between 2008-2013 the number of asylum seekers was around 13,000 but the migration crisis had seen numbers skyrocket.
Nouris said that after 2014 the numbers reached 34,000, almost Paphos’ population, putting Cyprus on top of the list of EU countries in terms of numbers of asylum seekers.
He reiterated that asylum seekers amount to 3.8 per cent of the country’s population whereas in other frontline countries this percentage is under one per cent.
“If this percentage concerned Germany, the number would have been 1,120,000 people,” Nouris said.
The minister also called on the EU to do more as regards solidarity between member states on the issue of migrants.
He also chastised “misleading” reports on the alleged bad living conditions at the migrant reception centres while failing to mention the measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus among residents of these centres.
