The system that will register entry, exit and refusal of entry information of third country nationals crossing the external borders of the Schengen area will come into operation, by 2020 at the latest.

Today, the Belgian Contact Point of the European Migration Network organized its national conference, which focused on the main developments in the field of migration and asylum that took place in Belgium in 2017.

On Wednesday afternoon in Brussels, Theo Francken, State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration, as well as the President of the Community of Sant'Egidio in Belgium and the representatives of the recognized cults in Belgium launched together a humanitarian corridor to accommodate 150 Syrian asylum seekers in optimal conditions.

Today 9 November 2017 is the last day to take part in this public consultation with a view to contributing to the revision of the legal basis of the Visa Information System.

On the 26th of October 2017 the general policy note on asylum and migration of the State Secretary for Asylum and Migration was published. The policy note provides an overview of the main achievements and priorities in the field of asylum and migration.

The European Commission published a mid-term review of what has been achieved so far in delivering the European Agenda on Migration. It also sets out new initiatives from the Commission to address key areas, and identifies where further efforts are needed in the coming months.

In order to preserve and strengthen the Schengen area, the Commission is proposing to update the Schengen Borders Code to adapt the rules for the reintroduction of temporary internal border controls to the current needs to respond to evolving and persistent serious threats to public policy or internal security.

The judgment in joined cases C-643/15 and C-647/15 Slovakia and Hungary v Council has been delivered by the Court, calling Member States to respect the emergency relocation scheme for refugees, initiated by the EU at the height of the migration crisis

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), published data on recent arrivals in Europe.  Compared with the 273,000 migrants who landed from January through Aug. 27, 2016, about 121,000 arrived during the same period this year. Furthermore, there was no evidence of any migrant dying in the Mediterranean since Aug. 9

Following up on the Commission's Action Plan to support Italy from 4 July, the EU Trust Fund for Africa adopted today a programme worth €46 million to reinforce the integrated migration and border management capacities of the Libyan authorities.

Today, the European Commission has announced a new wave of emergency support projects to help refugees in Greece.

Today, EASO presented its yearly reference report summarizing key developments that took place in the asylum field in the EU+ in 2016 as well as some more recent data of 2017. The launching of the annual report 2016 brought together a large audience, including journalists.

Today, the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration and the German Minister of Foreign Affairs signed a letter of intent to increase the cooperation of the two countries regarding monitoring beneficiaries of international protection who travel to their countries of origin.

The European Commission is today recommending that Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway phase out the temporary controls currently in place at some of their internal Schengen borders over the next six months.

On 18 March 2017, a regulation amending the Schengen borders code was published in the EU Official Journal. The amendment aims to reinforce checks against relevant databases at the external borders.

Eurostat published a news release on the number of asylum applications in 2016 and published an article on asylum applications and decisions for 2016 on its website.