Greece recorded a sharp fall in irregular arrivals over the past year and a simultaneous rise in returns, according to figures circulated by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
In the 12 months from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2025 — before the latest tightening of the legal framework — irregular arrivals stood at 61,123. In the following year, from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026, they fell to 41,998. That is almost 20,000 fewer people, or a drop of about 35%.
The government presents those numbers as evidence that two measures adopted in the summer of 2025 are working: a temporary restriction on asylum applications from North Africa and legislation built around the doctrine of “detention or deportation.” The stated aim was simple: fewer illegal entries, faster removals of people with no right to stay.
Returns are up, especially forced ones
On returns, the ministry’s snapshot for the first seven months of 2026 shows an overall increase of about 20%. Forced deportations rose faster, by about 35%.
Earlier 2026 briefings from the same ministry give a sense of the mix:
- forced removals: 1,292 in the first half of 2026, up from 915 a year earlier (+41%)
- assisted voluntary returns via the International Organization for Migration: 870, up from 740
- other voluntary departures: 468, slightly down from 488
Officials also point to lower occupancy in reception centres. Across two large sites with combined capacity of more than 6,000 places, occupancy was described as below 1,000 — a historically low load, they say.
Greece currently operates 33 open and closed facilities. New arrivals are not required to remain on the first island they reach – they are sorted and moved according to profile and the stage of their asylum case.
The Aegean eased. Crete did not.
The national drop hides a geographic shift. Pressure on the eastern Aegean has eased. The live problem is the Libya–Crete corridor.
A temporary reception site is already running in Agia, Chania. Another in Heraklion is close to opening. Mainland centres have been used to take pressure off the island.
Minister Thanos Plevris has said other Aegean islands will not be overloaded and that any transfers will be limited and matched by capacity elsewhere.
Recent examples cited by the ministry: 417 people moved to Samos and Lesvos in a short period; more than 4,000 relocated from those islands to the mainland since the start of the year; and a transfer of 205 people to Samos timed with 229 scheduled departures from there.
Next step: return hubs and European partners
Plevris is not treating the 12-month drop as the end of the file. He has been discussing return centres in Africa, with a working horizon in the second half of 2027, when Greece holds the EU presidency. He met Danish counterpart Morten Bødskov in Athens.
Ministers from Greece, Germany, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands — all in talks with African states — are due in Copenhagen on 4 September.
The official line is that there is “no room for complacency.” The Libya route remains open, and arrivals to Crete keep the issue politically live even as the national total falls.
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