In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) held that national legislation may oblige beneficiaries of international protection to pass a civic integration examination. However the fact of having failed such an examination cannot be systematically penalised by a fine.
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Hoofdthema: Integration
Trefwoorden: civic exam, civic integration course, fine
Op 3 februari 2025 legde de nieuwe federale regering van België de eed af voor koning Filip. Anneleen Van Bossuyt van de Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA) is benoemd tot Minister van Asiel en Migratie, Maatschappelijke Integratie en Stedenbeleid in de zogenaamde “Arizona-coalitie”.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectionaal
Trefwoorden: Minister van Asiel en Migratie, België
In het nieuwe akkoord willen de federale coalitiepartners de instroom van migranten beheersen en streven naar gecontroleerde migratie. Ze benadrukken ook het belang van de integratie van nieuwkomers, onder andere via een bindende nieuwkomersverklaring, en stellen eisen aan degenen die permanent in België willen verblijven.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectionaal
Trefwoorden: regeerakkoord, België, gecontroleerde migratie
In 2024, Belgium saw a notable increase in the number of individuals choosing voluntary return to their country of origin. According to Fedasil’s press release from 3 February 2024, the total number of individuals opting for voluntary return rose by 11% compared to the previous year.
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Hoofdthema: Return & Readmission
Trefwoorden: voluntary return
The European Commission has developed a new interactive tool to map labour migration pathways across the 27 EU Member States. It helps to visualise the 290 pathways that were active at the time of the research and updated to February 2024.
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Hoofdthema: Economic migration
Trefwoorden: labour migration, legal pathway, foreign job seeker
According to figures released by the Immigration Office, 20.724 decisions resulted in the granting of visas for family reunification in Belgium in 2024, compared to 18.738 in 2023 and 15.901 the year before. The increase concerns several categories, in particular family reunification with a refugee or beneficiary of subsidiary protection.
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Hoofdthema: Family reunification
Trefwoorden: family reunification visa, upward trend
In a press release published on 27 January 2025, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced that Belgian authorities could organise the forced return of Afghans to Istanbul and that partners on the ground could then take them to Afghanistan. This collaboration and the budgets for it still need to be finalised by a new government.
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Hoofdthema: Return & Readmission
Trefwoorden: forced return, Afghanistan
According to a report commissioned by the governor of West Flanders, a total of 632 transmigrants were caught in the province in 2024, while in 2023 there were fewer than 400. The province's share of interceptions also went up. West Flanders accounted for about 70% of all transit migrants intercepted in Belgium in 2024, compared to around 50% in previous years.
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Hoofdthema: Smuggling & Trafficking
Trefwoorden: transmigrant, transit migrant, West Flanders
On 23 January 2023, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs participated in the European Parliament plenary session to discuss EU funding of physical border protection structures such as walls, fences or other barriers at the external border. According to him, the Commission will take border management needs into account “in a holistic manner”, whilst always ensuring proportionate measures and respect for fundamental rights.
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Hoofdthema: Borders & Visa
Trefwoorden: external border, physical border protection structure
The European Commission published its fifth report on the progress made in the EU in combatting Trafficking in Human Beings. The report outlines, inter alia, that in 2021-2022, the majority of victims were non-EU citizens (54%). This demonstrates a shift compared to 2019-2020, when the majority of registered victims were EU citizens (55%).
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Hoofdthema: Smuggling & Trafficking
Trefwoorden: fight against trafficking, victim of trafficking, child victim of trafficking, sexual exploitation, labour exploitation
On 16 January 2025, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) released asylum statistics for the whole year 2024. According to the figures, 39.615 persons, mainly from Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Turkey, applied for international protection in Belgium. The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration stressed that a large number of these applicants were already registered in another Member State.
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Hoofdthema: International Protection
Trefwoorden: asylum applications, asylum decisions, asylum figures
Op 16 januari nam EMN België deel aan de MIGLOBA dag 2025, een evenement gewijd aan het netwerk voor migratie en globale mobiliteit van de Universiteit Antwerpen.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectionaal
Trefwoorden: Universiteit Antwerpen
Met iets meer dan 239 000 gedetecteerde irreguliere grensovergangen naar de EU die in 2024 werden geregistreerd, meldt Frontex het laagste aantal irreguliere grensovergangen sinds 2021, maar waarschuwt voor veranderende dynamieken en evoluerende uitdagingen.
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Hoofdthema: Grenscontrole & Visa
Trefwoorden: irreguliere grensovergang
According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 5.140 persons obtained Belgian nationality in October 2024. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in October are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Italy.
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Hoofdthema: Data & Statistics
Trefwoorden: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
Terwijl België blijft kampen met een opvangcrisis die sinds de zomer van 2021 aanhoudt, blijkt uit de laatste cijfers van Fedasil dat het aantal plaatsen voor asielzoekers dar door gemeenten beschikbaar wordt gesteld, blijft afnemen.
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Hoofdthema: Opvang
Trefwoorden: lokale opvanginitiatieven, opvangcrisis, woningtekort
Due to the numerous amendments to the Aliens Act, the development of a Migration Code has appeared necessary. In this context, a Commission of Independent Experts was established to provide guidance for the drafting of a new Code. Its final report, now publicly available, presents, among other elements, the Commission’s working methodology, key guidelines for codification, a proposed structure for the Code, and its discussions on draft texts.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectional
Trefwoorden: Migration Code, commission, report
As of 7 January 2025, 160 additional emergency shelter places are made available for homeless people sleeping on the streets in the Brussels Capital Region, supplementing the existing 2.600 places within the Brussels unhoused shelter network. The emergency shelter places are open to all homeless people, regardless of residence status.
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Hoofdthema: Vulnerable groups
Trefwoorden: homeless shelter, extreme cold plan, homelessness
The UK Home Office released provisional figures showing that more than 36.000 people were detected in 2024, making the crossing of the English Channel in small boats. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that at least 78 migrants died trying to cross the Channel in 2024.
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Hoofdthema: Irregular Migration
Trefwoorden: English channel, illegal border crossing, small boat
Poland will hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union until the end of June 2025. Its programme focuses on strengthening European security in its many dimensions. In the field of justice and home affairs, Poland aims inter alia to counter the instrumentalisation of migration by Russia and Belarus.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectional
Trefwoorden: Polish Presidency, Council of the European Union
From 1 January 2025 until 31 December 2026, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) will support Belgium to increase the capacities of the national asylum and reception authorities. Asylum support teams will be deployed to support the registration and processing of cases as well as the design, update and implementation of specific systems and tools.
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Hoofdthema: Asylum
Trefwoorden: EUAA, operational plan, operational assistance, technical assistance
Nu het jaar ten einde loopt, wil het team van het Belgisch Contactpunt van het Europees Migratienetwerk (EMN) u zijn welgemeende wensen sturen voor de feestdagen. Moge het nieuwe jaar ons nieuwe mogelijkheden brengen voor zinvolle uitwisselingen en een positieve impact terwijl we u blijven voorzien van waardevolle informatie over asiel en migratie.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectionaal
Trefwoorden: feestdagen, EMN België, nieuwjaarswensen 2025
In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union stated that a Member State cannot exclude from the benefit of family allowances a foreign worker whose children, born in a third country, cannot prove that they have entered its territory lawfully.
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Hoofdthema: Economic migration
Trefwoorden: migrant worker, equal treatment, social security, family benefits, minor
On 19 December 2024, Myria published the sixth thematic section of its 2024 annual report. In this section, entitled « Nationality », Myria pays particular attention inter alia to the sums to be paid to become Belgian and analyses the impact of such costs on fundamental rights and on women's access to nationality.
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Hoofdthema: Citizenship & Nationality
Trefwoorden: access to nationality, Belgian nationality, registration fee, women
The 18 December was chosen to celebrate International Migrants Day and the contributions that migrants make to the societies and countries that host them. On this occasion, various persons and organisations took action and issued statements calling for respect for the rights of migrants.
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Hoofdthema: Cross-sectional
Trefwoorden: international migrants day
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) published the Atlas of Migration 2024 which delves into the complex factors and conditions that shape migratory movements. The research shows that a wide range of interrelated drivers linked to the circumstances in the origin country, opportunities in the potential destination country as well as personal ambitions shape the migration potential of individuals and groups.