Berlin: Germany registered 213,000 asylum seeker arrivals in the year's first nine months, a sharp slowdown from the record influx of 2015, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Wednesday.
For 2016 as a whole, the top EU economy expects to receive up to 300,000 asylum seekers, having taken in 890,000 newcomers last year, with most fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
German authorities had ruled on close to 460,000 asylum applications so far this year, de Maiziere said, including many from a backlog in 2015.
Some 60 percent had received "positive decisions", gaining permits to stay for several years during which they are required to participate in integration classes.
The influx slowed sharply after Balkan nations closed the route favoured by migrants to reach Europe and the EU reached an accord with Turkey in March to curb migrant flows.
Nevertheless, many are still risking the perilous sea journey to reach Europe's shores.
On Wednesday, 36 people were rescued off the coast of Greece. They had rung the EU emergency number as "they did not know where they had landed up," said a spokeswoman for Greece's coast guard, adding that they had likely set sail from Turkish shores.
