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In 2013 over 40,000 illegal border-crossings were detected at the external EU borders of the Western Balkans and at the borders between five Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). This figure is 27% higher than in the previous year and half of the irregular migrants were detected at the Hungarian-Serbian border. Croatia’s accession to the EU on 1 July 2013 has had no effect on migratory flows in the region.
The detections at the border between Serbia and Hungary mostly occurred in the first half of the year. This sharp rise in the number of irregular migrants coincided with a change in asylum procedure in Hungary at the beginning of 2013 which lifted the detention requirement for asylum seekers. Following Hungary’s reintroduction of detention for asylum seekers in July, the flow of irregular migrants dropped significantly.
As a region surrounded by EU member states, the Western Balkans continued to largely be a transit area for migrants moving between different EU countries, in particular between Greece and Hungary. Compared to 2012, detections of transiting non-European irregular migrants stayed at the same level (approximately 22,000). Significant differences emerged however, in terms of countries of origin: there was a sharp decline in the number of migrants from Afghanistan, North Africa and Somalia and a large increase in the number of migrants from West Africa, mostly from Mali, Nigeria and Ghana.
The most common modus operandi for irregular movements was border crossing of green borders by foot and then meeting with facilitators who provided onward transport. When detected, almost all migrants claimed asylum.
The abuse of visa-free travel through mostly unfounded asylum application in the EU remained at the same level as in 2012. In 2013 nationals of five visa exempt Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) submitted 33,000 asylum applications in the EU.  Seven out of ten claims were submitted in Germany alone and of the five visa-exempt Western Balkan nationalities, nationals of Serbia accounting for a 45% share of the total.