Czech police are catching not only illegal foreigners on the streets of Prague
At the same time, as Radio Prague notes, the year-on-year increase has slowed somewhat: in 2019 it reached 5.1%, and in 2018 – 7.6%. The data is from a report by the Czech Ministry of the Interior on migration and integration, cited by the CTK agency.
The national composition of foreigners living in the country remains virtually unchanged. In first place are Ukrainians (24.4%), second are Slovaks (20.4%), third are Vietnamese (10.4%). They are followed by citizens of Russia (6.4%) and Poland (3.7%).
The growth in the number of some groups of foreigners is primarily linked to labor migration. Here, first place is held by citizens of Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, followed by citizens of the Philippines, Georgia and Serbia. 58.7% of foreigners living in the Czech Republic come from non-EU countries (349,560 people).
At the same time, as the Ministry of the Interior reports, not all foreigners living in the country are officially registered. In 2019, police discovered 5,677 foreign nationals illegally staying in the country, the highest figure since 2015. More than 25% of the illegal immigrants were citizens of Ukraine.
Among the illegally residing foreigners, 1,504 citizens of Ukraine, 831 citizens of Moldova, 356 citizens of Vietnam, and 21 citizens of Russia were found. According to the Czech Ministry of the Interior, most of them entered the Schengen area legally and overstayed their permitted period of stay.