Sweden: Iraqi refugee flow dropping, illegals and family reunification increasing

Although the number of Iraqi refugees coming to Sweden has been dropping, the number of Iraqi family members related to those already here has almost doubled in the last year.

Over 2700 Iraqi children have received residence permits in the first half of the this year - more than all of the year before.

Some of the Swedish communities receiving refugees and their families say this is causing housing shortages in some areas – and that youngsters are suffering by having to live in hotels and other temporary quarters instead of settling in permanent homes.


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More unsuccessful asylum seekers are going into hiding in Sweden, new figures from the Migration Board show. The trend is attributed to tighter rules permitting authorities to send back more refugees from war-torn countries.


In the first seven months of 2008, 5,325 failed asylum seekers went into hiding in the country, compared to 5,700 in the whole of 2007, according to figures from the Swedish Migration Board presented on Monday.


Iraqis account for the largest single group of vanishing refugees, with 1,005 citizens of the troubled Middle Eastern country going underground in Sweden so far this year.


(more)


Sources: The Local, SR (English)

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