Iraqi exodus spills into Europe

The exiles mostly poured into neighboring countries. But a growing tide of Iraqis is seeking shelter and a new start in Europe, where Sweden is emerging as the destination of choice due to relatively lax immigration laws, according to immigration officials and official statistics.

The number of Iraqis applying for asylum in the 25 countries of the European Union rose by nearly 50 percent to 7,300 in the first six months of the year, bucking a downward trend in the total number of asylum-seekers, U.N. statistics show.

One-third of them came to Sweden, a country of 9 million people including more than 70,000 Iraqi immigrants which has so far resisted clampdowns on immigration seen elsewhere in the EU.

The latest immigration figures in Sweden show the surge has intensified in recent months. By Oct. 8, nearly 5,000 Iraqis had sought asylum in the Scandinavian country _ already more than double last year's number.

The immigration authority was forced to set up a special unit last month to deal with the massive case load.

"We're up to 1,000 per month. That's quite a remarkable figure,'' said Magnus Ryden, a former case worker at Sweden's Migration Board. ``I think our staff is experiencing a certain overload.''

An additional 3,000 Iraqis this year have applied for residence permits to be reunited with a spouse or parents already living in Sweden.

Experts attributed the surge to changes in Swedish immigration law that has made it easier for Iraqis to gain residence permits, especially those from the most violent areas such as Baghdad and southern Iraq. Meanwhile, other countries ``are becoming increasingly restrictive'' said Migration Board expert Krister Isaksson, noting Denmark and Britain as examples.

"They look differently at Iraqis' need for protection,'' he said.

Britain has seen a steady drop in asylum-seekers in recent years, as the government has tightened immigration laws and stepped up border controls. Along with Poland it is also the only EU country to have forcibly returned Iraqis whose asylum applications were rejected, according to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.

Denmark, too, has seen a sharp drop in refugees after restricting its asylum laws in 2002. Before the change, some 90 percent of Iraqis who sought asylum were granted shelter in Denmark. The number was down to 7 percent last year.

"As a general rule, Denmark doesn't consider civil war or the general unrest as a reason to get asylum here,'' said Niels Bak of the Danish Immigration Service.

Despite the growing number of Iraqi refugees arriving in Europe, the overwhelming majority of those who have fled the country have ended up in the Middle East. Some 890,000 Iraqis have moved to Jordan, Iran and Syria since 2003, Iraq's Immigration Minister Abdul-Samad Sultan said two weeks ago.

An additional 300,000 Iraqis have been displaced within the country, of which half fled their homes after the February bombing of a Shiite shrine in the city of Samarra that sparked waves of violence, he said.

Those displaced mostly moved in with their own sectarian communities _ Shiites fleeing mainly Sunni or mixed areas to Shiite-dominated ones, and vice versa _ exacerbating the segregation of the country of some 30 million.

Many who venture to Europe turn to smugglers who provide them with fake passports and travel documents for fees of about US$10,000, several Iraqis who made the journey said.

Some use Eastern European countries as transit points, while others seek to board direct flights to Western European countries from Amman, Damascus or Istanbul, they said.

After Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany were the most popular destinations for Iraqi migrants this year, but both have adopted stricter policies that make it harder to get staying permits.

Sweden, however, has gone the other way. Last year, Parliament decided to give a second chance to asylum-seekers who were hiding in the country after their applications were rejected. Of the 30,000 people who reapplied, about 60 percent were approved, including 5,300 Iraqis.

In addition, the immigration law was changed this year to widen the definition of people considered in need of protection. Now, the general turmoil in their home country is considered reason enough to grant them protection.

Intelligence officials in Sweden said they are keeping an eye on asylum-seekers to spot any terrorists trying to infiltrate Europe.

"We have a very cooperation with the Migration Board,'' said Anders Thornberg of Sweden's security police, SAPO. ``We are monitoring this and let them know what we are looking for.''