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In 2018, 471 000 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the European Union, while about 602 000 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in one of the EU countries, the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat said on July 12.

The number of non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave an EU member state reached 478 000.

About 198 000 non-EU citizens, following an order to leave, were returned to another country (including other EU member states), of these 158 000 were returned outside the EU.

In 2018, about 471 200 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU at one of its external borders, up seven per cent compared with 439 500 in the previous year.

Nearly half of the refusals of entry were recorded in Spain (230 500), followed by France (70 400) and Poland (53 700); together these three EU member states accounted for three out of four (75 per cent) of all non-EU citizens refused entry into the EU in 2018.

In 2018, 601 500 non-EU citizens were found to be illegally present in the EU. This was down by three per cent compared with one year before (618 800) and by 72 per cent when compared with the levels of 2015 when the total number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present stood at 2 154 700 – the highest number ever recorded.

Germany reported the largest number of non-EU citizens found to be illegally present in 2018 (134 100), followed by France (105 900), Greece (93 400) and Spain (78 300). These four member states together accounted for 68 per cent of all those found to be illegally present in the EU.

In 2018, some 478 200 non-EU citizens were ordered to leave the territory of an EU member state, down by seven per cent compared with the previous year (516 100).

Among EU member states, France reported the largest number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave its territory in 2018 (105 600), followed by Spain (59 300), Greece (58 300) and Germany (52 900).

Spain recorded the highest increase in the number of non-EU citizens ordered to leave between 2017 and 2018 both in absolute and relative terms (up 31 900 persons or +117 per cent).

In 2018, 157 900 non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave the territory of an EU member state were returned outside of the EU; a reduction of 17 per cent when compared with a year before (189 900).

Germany reported the largest number of non-EU citizens returned outside the EU (29 100), followed by Poland (25 700) and the United Kingdom (24 500), Eurostat said.

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