More than 4,000 asylum seekers in Belgium return home in 2015

More than 4,000 asylum seekers in Belgium voluntarily returned to their countries of origin in 2015, Belgium's migration office spokesman said Sunday.

Out of the 35,476 asylum seekers that arrived in Belgium in 2015, 4,053 returned to their homeland out of their own will, the spokesman of Theo Francken, the Secretary of State to Asylum and Migration told Belga News Agency.

In the first five months of this year, the number of voluntary returns has already reached 2,050, of which 1,023 were destined for Iraq, the spokesman said, adding that the trend is expected to continue.

Belgium has installed in several major cities so-called "returned offices", which provide information to migrants on their voluntary return and help facilitate the procedure.

"We will hire more people (in "returned offices") to convince people to go back, because this is the best option," Francken was quoted by the Belgian broadcaster VRT as saying.In 2015, Belgium received the highest number of asylum applicants since the year 2000, doubling the number of 2014. Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are the top three countries of applicants' origins.

（APD）