Filenews 22 September 2025 - by Michalis Chatzivasilis
The data on the picture of the migration problem after the regime change in Syria are encouraging, after the arrivals of irregular migrants fell to record levels.
At the same time, 2,800 Syrians, or 25% of those who had applied for asylum or subsidiary protection status, have withdrawn their application and have been repatriated.
Until August this year we had 1,606 arrivals of irregular migrants compared to 9,307 in 2022. Also, 1,900 asylum applications were submitted this year. The Asylum Service is intensifying the examination of applications and is now issuing decisions in a short period of time. Indicative of this is that this year until August, 8,546 decisions have been issued on asylum applications, of which 8,123 or 95% were negative.
According to information from Filenews, since April 2025, on the instructions of the Deputy Minister of Migration and Asylum, Nikolas Ioannidis, the policy around the examination of applications has changed and those who do not have the profile to be granted asylum, their applications are rejected. The examination is individualized for each case, however, when someone does not meet the requirements, their application is immediately rejected.
At the same time, 4,112 Syrian citizens have withdrawn their applications or their subsidiary protection status has been revoked, of which 3,541 have been repatriated. Also, according to data from the Deputy Ministry of Migration, from 2022 to September 17, 2025, the relocation of more than 3,006 applicants for international protection from Cyprus under the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism (VSM) was successfully carried out in nine member states of the European Union. Their vast majority (2,913) has been implemented from March 2023 until today.
Following this, Cyprus now records the highest number of relocations among the five frontline Mediterranean countries participating in the Facility (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain).
Relocations are implemented in close cooperation and under the coordination of the European Commission, as well as with the support of the European Asylum Agency (EUAA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). As part of the procedure, the EUAA organised dedicated information sessions to ensure that applicants are fully informed and give their explicit consent to participate in the relocation scheme. This effort included people with special needs, vulnerable people, families and unaccompanied children.
It is also noted that after the change of policy, the procedures have become stricter and those foreigners who are involved in criminal offenses are then deprived of their subsidiary protection status and are deported from the Republic, if any objection is rejected by the Courts. The same happens with the troublemakers unaccompanied minors.
