Under Council Directive 2004/81/EC, EU Member States have the option to grant residence permits to third-country nationals who have been the subject of an action to facilitate illegal immigration, such as smuggling. This ad hoc query seeks to map which Member States have implemented this possibility, and to what extent this residence procedure is used in practice.

A large-scale operation involving law enforcement and judicial authorities from Belgium, France and Germany, coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, led to the dismantling of one of the most active networks involved in the smuggling of migrants across the English Channel in small boats. 

At a conference today, the European Commission proposed new legislation to prevent and fight migrant smuggling and also launched a call to action for a Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling.

Today, key Belgian stakeholders in the fight against migrant smuggling discussed inter alia the use of social media in migrant smuggling at a round-table organized by the Belgian Contact Point of the EMN.