Reunifications of refugees slow down

Hundreds of refugees stranded in Greece have to put up with long delays in reuniting with their relatives in other European countries.

Applications for reunification and relocation to other European Union countries take an average 324 days to be processed in the case of adults and 291 days for minors, according to the Greek Dublin Unit which implements the EU’s Dublin regulation on processing asylum seekers.

The data concerns the period from 2013 to the first half of 2018.

In 2017, the Greek Asylum Service received 2,460 asylum requests from unaccompanied minors, 854 of which sought reunification with family members. A total of 993 asylum claims were submitted by unaccompanied minors in the first half of 2018.

Of these, 680 asked to be reunited with relatives in Germany, Sweden, Austria and other EU states.

Refugee reunification has slowed in recent months, reflecting popular opposition to migrant inflows.