In all public statements, the Prime Minister of England Rishi Sunak mentions as a success story the reduction by 90% during 2023 of the number of Albanians arriving by raft compared to 2022.
The illegal arrival of Albanians in the island state since 1998 is one side of the coin.
There are thousands of others who choose legal routes by applying for tourist visas, family reunification, student and employment visas.
While the figures for illegal immigration to England are present daily in the media there, no one talks about the Albanians who arrived in accordance with the rules.
But what is the number of visas issued to Albanian citizens by the British government during the past year?
Top Channel brings the answer to this question from statistics recently published by the Home Office Ministry of Internal Affairs.
For the period January-September 2023, 42,511 people applied for a tourist visa, 23,737 of them received the visa and 18,750 were rejected . The visa approval rate for Albanian citizens for this visa category was 56%.
For the same period of time, 1,365 Albanian citizens applied for family visas . 1,161 received visa approval, while 200 were refused . The percentage of obtaining visas for this category was 85%.
At a time when those Albanians who arrive illegally in England do so for employment reasons, the latest Home Office figures do not show how many employment or seasonal employment visas were granted to Albanian citizens during the past year./ TCH