ATHENS – The asylum recognition rate stood at 37% during the first eight months of 2026, compared with 72% in 2024 and 58% in 2025, according to sources from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
The same sources noted that even nationalities with a refugee profile, which in the past had asylum recognition rates of nearly 100%, such as citizens of Afghanistan and Sudan, are now recording recognition rates below 70%.
According to the sources, this development is attributed to the immediate rejection of applications on administrative grounds, the application of individualized criteria, and the consideration of the safe third countries through which applicants have passed.
According to the same sources, the goal is to further reduce the recognition rate so that asylum is granted only to those who are genuinely entitled to international protection.
Among nationalities without a refugee profile, for which increased flows have been recorded, particularly from Bangladesh, as well as from Egypt and Pakistan, the asylum recognition rate is below 1%.
Moreover, following the implementation of the Migration Pact in June 2026, those without a refugee profile remain subject to restrictions on their freedom until their applications are examined and rejected and they are subsequently returned, without acquiring the right to work, under the policy described as “detention or return.”
