In a word YES they are! And it is so often said to people who complain about moving here to Cyprus and can get nothing - that they should go to the UK where they will be 'well looked after'

The generous UK benefits system is a bit of a 'joke' outside the UK. And the NHS health system is known as the 'Cinderella of health systems' because it isn't REALLY free. And a lot of stuff that is available elsewhere if you pay for it is not available on the NHS. And even if it is - you might have to wait so long for it that you could die in the meantime.

Not even going there.

I believe Asylum means you are fleeing from one country to the nearest which would be a place of safety,most of those who seek Asylum have passed how many countries sometimes 3 or 4 just to get here.So in my book they are not seeking safety but something else.In World War 2,most peoples goal was Switzerland and sometimes the Republic of Ireland who were both neutral Gemini54

I said I wouldn't get involved but with people coming in by air they may very much be going to the first country they touch down in when they arrive here.

Cyprus (which is quite a small island with less than one million inhabitants) gets a LOT of asylum seekers because it is the nearest EU country to a lot of the hot spot countries where the Asylum seekers are fleeing from being the furthest flung one from the rest of the EU.

Most of the 'refugees' here are Palestinians (although most of them came from Iraq where they were first given refuge). Cyprus does of course have its own 'internal refugee' population too following the 1974 Turkish intervention.

The 'following through' from one country to another is something often discussed here many having come through Syria, Egypt and other countries first. They also have a problem with illegal immigrants coming in via Turkey from the North.

Cyprus and Malta rank first among the industrialized countries in the per capita number of asylum applications. Both being quite small countries.

even as far as calling themselves ex pats instead of immigrants LOL

I believe the strict interpretation of 'immigrant' is one who comes to live PERMANENTLY in another country taking up permanent residence. They have to apply for it to be granted. A lot of people living in countries outside their country of birth don't ever apply for permanent residency.

Same in Spain. But a lot of ex pat Brits here refer to others as 'foreigners' and when questioned will say 'well you know what I mean'.

I'm an EU Citizen myself - exercising my right to live and work in any EU country!

So are the Bulgarians, the Polish, the Romanians, the Greeks and others.

I understand the UK is braced to take a lot of Romanians from this year on? Certainly a lot of them living here plan to go to the UK as it is said the UK economy is 'picking up' while Cyprus economy of course is at an all time low and there's not much here for them right now.

I knew Switzerland Sweden Spain and Portugal were favoured European asylum locations during WW2, but I hadn't heard Ireland was . I would have thought it's location would have made that unlikely ?

Hi Most of the Asylum seekers come by lorry from france,and when they are caught they ask for asylum so they are not returned.France is quite strange they dont like the drivers to stay with the lorry,so when the driver arrives here and found to have passengers,they get fined as does the company.Gemini54

I probably shouldn't get involved in this but I feel so strongly on one of them .... well actually all of them but will only comment on one. Here in the UK our schools and NHS hospitals are suffering beyond belief because we have opened our doors to all in the EU. A huge mistake as far as I'm concerned . I saw some statistics only a few days ago stating the huge percentage of Europeans that are coming in to the UK just to benefit from our health care .... this percentage was so high that it HAS been detrimental to the native Brits. Much longer waiting times, lack of hospital beds, etc etc. I strongly believe that any EU member should pay a percentage of all medical care. I personally wish we would pull out of the EU.

I wasn't going to get involved but now I've started I'm having trouble stopping Any one who chooses to come and live here should abide by our rules of Government, should learn our language and not moan. If they don't like it they should b*gger off back to where they came from and not stay here and milk us for what they can. We are too much of a soft touch and are now known for it.

I'll sprint off now before someone lobs a rock at me.