According to the Czech police, the number of illegal foreigners living in the Czech Republic increased in the first six months of 2021.
One of the main reasons for the increase was that the borders with Germany and Austria were not completely closed this year.
Ukrainians represented the largest group of illegal foreigners discovered by Czech police in the first half of this year, followed by migrants from Moldova, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Georgia.
According to the foreign police director, Milan Majer, the increase in the number of foreigners illegally staying in the Czech Republic, resulted from violations of the Health Ministry’s regulations imposed to halt the further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highest number of illegal foreigners was found in Prague, followed by the Central Bohemian, South Moravian, Plzeň, and Ústí regions.
In the case of the illegal transit migration, Czech law enforcement detained 515 persons, 81 more than in 2020.
Most often, migrants came to the Czech Republic through the border with Slovakia or via intra-Schengen flights. Their destination country was primarily Germany.
They were mainly citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Morocco.
105 people tried to cross the EU border at Czech international airports illegally, 8 more than last year.
The Czech Republic registered the highest number of illegal migrants in 2015, during the European migration crisis when a total of 8,563 persons were found.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) stressed that about 40,900 persons sought asylum in the European Union countries, during November 2020. The figures were approximately the same as in October, but still lower than the pre-pandemic ones.
