A record number of asylum applications were processed by the Office of the Refugee Commissioner last year.

The office said that a total 2,959 cases were closed in 2009, compared to 2,731 in 2008 (another record year) and 958 in 2007.

The large number of applications processed last year resulted from a spill over of applications filed in 2008, it said.

The Office received 1,308 applications last year, a number of which are still being processed. 165 illegal immigrants who landed in Malta in 2009 opted not to apply for asylum.

The time taken to determine an asylum application was now averaging five to six months. his was due to the considerable beefing up of human resources at the Refugee Commissioner’s office in recent years, as well as the streamlining of asylum procedures.

While this meant that asylum seekers who were granted refugee status or subsidiary protection under the Geneva Convention were spending less time in detention, it also gave immigration authorities more time to conclude the difficult process to obtain the documents required to repatriate failed asylum seekers to their home countries.