That reminds me of one of my favorite jokes . Q How do you know if an American has an ancestor that arrived in the colonies before 1776 ? A They ' ll tell you . <| sep |> The majority of those arriving are not refugees or genuine asylum seekers . They are economic migrants . There is a visa process for such people . If they don ' t meet it , it doesn ' t mean that they can just arrive illegally by boat . More than half of those fleeing to Europe from the Middle East and Africa are economic migrants and not asylum seekers fleeing the horrors of war in Iraq or Syria , according to first vicepresident of the European Commission , Frans Timmermans . Quoting what he said were new , unpublished , figures from the EU border agency , Frontex , Mr Timmermans said More than half of the people now coming to Europe come from countries where you can assume they have no reason whatsoever to ask for refugee status more than half , 60 percent . f l e e i n g t o e u r o p e a r e notrefugeeseuofficialsays 1 . 2511133