Bulgaria ordered 1310 non-EU citizens to leave in 2021

Bulgaria ordered 1310 nationals of non-EU countries to leave the country in 2021, according to figures published on May 19 by EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Of the 1310, the largest numbers were citizens of Syria (320), Afghanistan (290) and Turkey (190).

Others ordered last year to leave Bulgaria included citizens of Iraq (95), Morocco (65), Iran (45), Algeria (25), Russia (20), Tunisia (20), Albania (20), Ukraine (15), Libya (15), Georgia (15), Nigeria (15), Kosovo (10), North Macedonia (10) and Dominican Republic (10).

The remainder were Palestinians (15), and citizens of Cuba (five), Vietnam (five), Jordan (five) and Nepal (five).

The report did not state the reasons for the expulsions.

Eurostat said that Bulgaria refused entry to 6180 non-EU citizens in 2021, up from 4685 in 2020.

Of those refused entry to Bulgaria last year, the largest number had been found to have no valid visa or residence permit (1555), an alert had been issued against the person (1350), or the person was considered to be a public threat (1815).

Other reasons for refusing entry included that the purpose and conditions of the stay were not justified (865), a false travel document (five), no valid travel document (185), the person already had stayed for three months in a six-month period (185) and insufficient means of subsistence (220).

The statistics agency said that in 2021, a total of 3200 non-EU nationals were found to be illegally present in Bulgaria, up from 670 in 2020.

Of those found to be illegally present in the country, in 1255 cases it was because they had entered the country illegally, 270 because they had overstayed, while in 1675 cases, the reason was given as “other”.

(Photo: MBer4266 via Wikimedia Commons)

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