Today, the Council of Ministers approved a first package of reform measures by Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor. Below is an overview of the measures to be found in the preliminary bill:

• Reception places will be allocated to those who are in an asylum procedure: anyone who receives a negative decision regarding his/her application for international protection would have to leave the reception center within a period of 30 days.
   
• An obligation to cooperate on return will be introduced: The obligation to cooperate means that those who have to leave the country must cooperate in the guidance provided by ICAM coaches, as well as cooperate in their identification, take the necessary steps to obtain the necessary travel documents, cooperate in the organization of their travel, the necessary medical examinations and the transmission of medical attests and attestations. 
   
• To speed up forced returns, the pool of escorts will be expanded: In addition to the police and Frontex, escorts could also be carried out by Immigration Office staff trained for this purpose.
   
• More time will be allowed for the Dublin transfer when an asylum seeker has absconded: The Immigration Office would be able to extend the period for the transfer of asylum seekers to other Member States from 6 months to twelve months when the transfer cannot take place due to detention (in a penal institution), and up to eighteen months if the person concerned has absconded.
   
• Family reunification with a Belgian child will only be authorized for those who participate in the child’s daily care: Family reunification would only be possible if the parent can demonstrate that he or she is actually involved in the daily care of the child. Being the child's parent would therefore not be sufficient. 
   
• Ban on "cascade" family reunification will be expanded: The so-called 'cascade ban', which provides for a two-year waiting period for third-country nationals who are here through family reunification with another third-country national, before they can enter into family reunification with a new partner, would be extended to foreigners who seek the right of residence as partners of a Belgian or EU citizen.
   
• Parents of minor refugees will be granted the right of residence: A separate right of residence would be created for parents of recognized minor refugees via family reunification. Today, in such cases, parents can invoke humanitarian regularization to stay in Belgium with their children. However, regularization does not serve that purpose.
   
• Stateless persons already residing in Belgium will be able to apply to the Immigration Office for a 5-year limited stay. For the substantive assessment of the file, the Immigration Office seeks the advice of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS). If, at the end of the five-year period, the person concerned still meets the conditions, he/she would be granted unlimited stay in Belgium. Until now, stateless persons had to resort to the humanitarian regularisation procedure.
   
• Minors can no longer be held in closed centers, this would be enshrined in law.

For further information on these measures as well as on other actions developed by the State Secretary, inter alia the migration code, the blueprint for a unified migration service, the creation of additional reception places and the support to local authorities for local reception initiatives, please read the press release (in Dutch) here.