On 18 January a conference will take place in Brussels organised by the federal Migration Centre Myria, the Académie Royale des Sciences et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten and newspaper Le Soir. The focus will be on international protection and economic migration.

On 12 December 2018, the Belgian contact point of the EMN organized its annual asylum and migration policy event in which recent national and EU developments in the field of international protection, legal migration and integration and irregular migration, human trafficking and return were discussed. 

This report provides a broad overview of recent trends in international migration flows and migration policies in OECD countries and some non-OECD countries.

Today, 10 families with a humanitarian visa arrived in Zaventem. They will apply for international protection once in Belgium. They will be hosted in Christian communities, in cooperation with Caritas, during the first year.

On the 31st of May and 1st of June, the Bulgarian Contact Point of the EMN - in the framework of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council - organized the EMN Annual Conference. The conference was dedicated to  challenges and success factors in managing migration flows. 

Eurostat published a statistical analysis on the number of unaccompanied minors who applied for international protection in 2017. the 31,400 applications represent an important decrease compared to previous years. 

This conference aims to provide legal practitioners with an update on recent developments in the EU legal migration system and the mechanisms put in place to tackle labour and skills shortages and to reinforce the attractiveness of the EU for key workers

Following the adoption of the Cooperation Agreement on the Single Permit Procedure on 2 February 2018, different legislative texts have been adopted at the federal and regional levels in March 2018 to approve this Cooperation Agreement.

Today Eurostat published the 2017 statistics on 'Asylum in the EU' on its website. It covers main trends and characteristics of first time applicants and first instance decisions on asylum applications for 2017 in the EU.

Today, March 12, 2018 the Law of 21 November 2017 (adopted in the Parliament on Nov. 9) modifying the Immigration Act was published in the Belgian Official Gazette and will come into force on March 22, 2018. 

New figures published today by EASO show a significant decrease in the number of asylum applications made in the EU in 2017.

In 2018, a total of 1.150 refugees will be selected in the frame of the resettlement programme (Syrians, Congolese and refugees of the Central Mediterranean route) in order to be transferred to Belgium.

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.

A joint European Migration Network & OECD event exploring the topics of family migration and illegal employment took place in Brussels on 9 November 2017.

During the competition which has started on 31 July 2017 and closes on 27 October 2017, professional journalists are invited to submit exemplary articles and media productions on labour migration.

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.