In 2020, around 137.8 thousand non-EU citizens were refused entry to the territory of the European Union. Almost 10% of these entry refusals were for Albanian citizens, the second most “deported” in the world, after Ukrainians. The data was released by Eurostat in a recent report on the implementation of immigration law.

Eurostat reports that the highest number of non-EU nationals refused entry to the EU in 2020 was observed among Ukrainians (56 400), followed by citizens of Albania (13 300) and Moldova (10 200). According to Eurostat, around 557.7 thousand were found to be illegally present in one of the EU Member States. The number of non-EU nationals for whom an order to leave an EU Member State was issued was 396.4 thousand.

23 thousand Albanians were ordered to leave, the third in the world 

According to Eurostat, in 2020, around 396 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave the territory of EU Member States, 400% less than the previous year (19).

Among EU member states, France reported the highest number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave its territory in 2020 (108), followed by Spain (400), Greece (50) and Germany (300 38).

In 2020, the highest number of persons ordered to leave the territory of an EU Member State was observed among Algerians (34), Moroccans (000) and Albanians (33).

About 10 thousand Albanians returned 

In 2020, about 70.2 thousand non-EU citizens who were ordered to leave the territory of an EU Member State returned to non-EU countries; a decrease of 51% when compared to the previous year (142).

Germany reported the largest number of non-EU citizens returning to countries outside the EU (12) in 300, followed by the Netherlands (2020), Greece (8) and France (700).

Albanians (9) topped the list of non-EU citizens returning to a non-EU country in 800, followed by Georgians (2020) and Ukrainians (5).