The OAR has resolved 92,963 applications in the last year, in addition to 1,022 statelessness statutes and more than 33,900 temporary protections for people displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Asylum and Refuge Office
The Asylum and Refuge Office (OAR) of the Ministry of the Interior received 163,218 applications for international protection in 2023, 37 per cent more than in the previous year and the highest figure since the office was created in 1992, according to provisional data closed on 31 December. These figures place Spain as the third largest recipient of international protection in the European Union.
By nationality, the country of origin of the largest number of applicants was Venezuela, with 60,534 applications, 37 per cent of the total, followed by Colombia (53,564) and Peru (14,306). The three countries accounted for 78.6 per cent of the total number of applications registered.
By place of presentation, the Community of Madrid heads the list of autonomous communities with the most applications (52,684), followed by Andalusia (25,948) and Catalonia (14,775). The Ministry of the Interior also resolved a total of 92,963 international protection applications in 2023, which represents an increase of 1.8 per cent over the previous year.
Granting international protection
In the past year, 7,521 refugee statuses have been granted, a record number to date and accounting for 26.5 per cent of the statuses granted by the OHR since 2012 (28,232). The top five nationalities of those granted status are Afghanistan, Syria, Nicaragua, Colombia and Honduras. Subsidiary protection has also been processed for 3,850 persons, mainly from Mali. 41,478 citizens, mostly Venezuelans, have been granted residence and work on humanitarian grounds for one year.
According to these figures, the rate of recognition of refugee and subsidiary protection status is 12.23 per cent and the rate of international protection is 56.85 per cent.
Processing of statelessness petitions
In 2023, 953 applications for stateless status were submitted and 1,022 cases were resolved. Statelessness is a procedure aimed at identifying among the applicants those persons who are not considered nationals by any State, according to its legislation, and who claim to be without nationality, under the provisions of the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, concluded in New York on 28 September 1954.
More than 33,900 new temporary protections
The OHR granted temporary protection to 33,928 people in 2023, bringing to almost 195,000 the number of citizens displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine who are covered by this scheme in Spain.
The Spanish government launched this emergency procedure in March 2022 and delivered the first decision on the 11th of that month, in compliance with the European Union agreement authorising, for the first time, the application of the Temporary Protection Directive.