Brussels, 03/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement of the Schengen Area, in which the number of participants increased from 15 to 24 countries on 21 December 2007, has brought about a large inflow of immigrants from the East wishing to gain refugee status. Such is the case in Austria and Poland in particular. In Austria, where over half of the nationals stated they are opposed to opening up their border, the refugee hosting centre in Traiskirchen to the south of Vienna, has seen the number of its occupants double since 21 December to reach 770. This camp can normally take in a maximum of 500. The Austrian media have reported that many such refugees entered Austria by taxi or train after extension of the Schengen Area, several of them having already made requests for asylum in Poland, Slovakia and Lithuania. In Poland, the rise in asylum requests had begun well before border controls were effectively lifted within the Schengen Area. On 20 December, 8,629 persons, mainly Chechen, had submitted requests for asylum in Poland since the beginning of the year. The most likely reason for this increase is Poland's entry into the Schengen Area and the fear that it will bring about increased controls at borders, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recently said. According to the HCR, illegal smugglers put out the rumour that access by asylum seekers to Polish territory would become more difficult after 21 December. The asylum seekers also hoped, wrongly, that, once they had entered Poland, they might more easily enter other European countries. This flow of migrants, which has not been noted in the other countries that are new members of the Schengen Area, has brought about a phenomenon of overcrowding in Polish hosting centres. Such centres now receive over 5,300 persons, compared to 3,550 one year ago, the HCR states. The number of retention centres for foreigners has grown in recent years, reaching 224 today throughout the European Union. The centres have a total accommodation capacity of around 30,000 persons including asylum seekers and illegal migrants awaiting expulsion.
In addition to the symbolic gesture of closing borders for the Union's 400 million inhabitants, there is also the question of protecting the new external borders of the Union. Nonetheless, the question of inland security remains the most topical, all the more as illegal immigrants may come from inside the Schengen Area. The Austrian police forces stated on 30 December that they had intercepted ten Serbs, including several children, seeking to enter the country via Hungary. These persons, who were probably aided by a refugee smuggler, had spent several days in a retention centre in Hungary before seeking to enter Austria. Polish border guards announced over the Christmas period that they had arrested more than one hundred Chechen asylum seekers attempting to leave Poland for Germany, Austria and France. The German police has also arrested several asylum seekers on its motorways. According to EU legislation, asylum seekers whose request for refugee status is being processed, cannot leave the country where they made their initial request for refugee status, without a decision being issued. Neither are they authorised to work during the period of asylum processing. On the other hand, persons who have received the status of refugee in the nine new Schengen countries may, in the same way as tourists do, henceforth travel in the other Schengen Area countries. They cannot, however, remain there more than 90 days and they cannot enter employment without a residency/work permit. They will also require visas for entry into the United Kingdom and Ireland, which are not members of the Schengen Area. (B.C.)