Tightening asylum laws
However, since 2015 and the high number of refugees applying for asylum in Denmark, the country's government has implemented some of the tightest asylum laws in Europe. For instance, in 2021, a bill was introduced that opened for deporting asylum seekers to detention centers in countries outside Europe while their applications are being processed, and it was also one of the first European countries to declare parts of Syria safe in 2021 after the Civil War, meaning that asylum seekers who had their applications rejected could be returned to the country. As a result of these policies, but also because routes for refugees to Europe have been closed during the past years, the number of asylum seekers arriving in Denmark decreased rapidly since 2015. Moreover, from 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made migration even more difficult, causing the number to decrease further.The tightened asylum policies are reflected in the residence permits granted by the authorities. In 2021, only a little less than 1,400 of the 75,000 residence permits granted in the country were given to asylum seekers. Of these, the majority came fromEritrea.
