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Fedasil has a budget for financing specific projects relating to the reception of asylum seekers (and other reception beneficiaries). The Agency has launched its call for projects for the year 2025. In 2025, the focus will be on projects that focus on support, activation, and housing.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: call for projects, applicant for international protection, support, activation, housing
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In a non-paper, seventeen European countries called on the European Commission to submit a new proposal for more effective returns. The letter emphasises the need for a stricter EU return system with clearer obligations for cooperation from the returnees and less interpretation by the European Court of Justice.
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Main theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: effective return
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The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) announced on 2 October 2024 that the notification of decisions granting or refusing subsidiary protection status to applicants from Lebanon is suspended until the CGRS has sufficient objective information to assess the security situation in Lebanon.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: applicant for international protection, Lebanon, refugee status, subsidiary protection status
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On 1 October 2024, Nicole de Moor stated that proportionally speaking, more Palestinian applicants for international protection come to Belgium than to other European Member States. She also confirmed that the protection rate for Palestinian applicants had increased in recent years.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: Palestinian, applicant for international protection, New Pact on Migration and Asylum
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Checks are being temporarily reintroduced at Germany's borders with Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Denmark. They will run from 16 September 2024 until 15 March 2025 to, among other things, reduce irregular migration and combat people smuggling.
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Main theme: Borders & Visa
Keywords: border control, border check, Schengen, internal border control
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In a press release from 9 September 2024, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor reacted to the Hungarian government’s recent threats to send migrants to Brussels. She advocated for a joint, coordinated policy, in which respect for European values and international obligations are central.
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Main theme: Irregular Migration
Keywords: migration instrumentalization, European cooperation, mutual trust
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Due to the sharp rise in applications for the equivalence of foreign diplomas in Flanders and the time- and labour-intensive investigations involved, waiting times can reach seven months. This impacts the integration of migrants into the labour market.
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Main theme: Integration
Keywords: recognition of qualifications, diploma, equivalence
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Students, who were originally from Syria and Congo before becoming refugees in Egypt and Uganda, have the opportunity to start this new academic year in Belgian universities thanks to the legal and sustainable migration pathway offered by the university corridors.
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Main theme: Study § Training
Keywords: university corridor, legal pathway, refugee
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The Walloon administration announces that new regulations come into force on 1 September 2024 regarding salaried economic migration for foreign workers in Wallonia. The system remains largely unchanged in its principles, still falling within the broader framework of the Single Permit for work and residence authorization for foreign workers. However, a new decree of the Walloon Government organizes new features and modifications.
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Main theme: Economic migration
Keywords: foreign workers, employer, single permit, EU blue card
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The law of 10 March 2024 amending the law of 15 December 1980 on the right to family reunification comes into force on 1 September 2024. The changes have an impact among other things on the right to family reunification for parents of accompanied minors with international protection, the right to family reunification for stateless persons, the assessment of minorhood in the asylum procedure or residence procedure for stateless person, etc.
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Main theme: Family reunification
Keywords: right to family reunification, application for family reunification
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The law of 10 March 2024 which creates a residence status as a stateless person in Belgium, comes into force on 1 September 2024. Applications for admission to stay on the grounds of statelessness must now be submitted directly to the Immigration Office by registered mail.
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Main theme: Statelessness
Keywords: application for statelessness, admission to stay, stateless persons
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The current weather conditions increase the risk that human smugglers will send groups of transmigrants, including small children, out to sea in overcrowded rubber boats, often with inadequate life jackets. To avoid this, the West Coast police zone and the Federal Police require special attention for people who cross the Channel from the Belgian coast to the United Kingdom in small boats.
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Main theme: Smuggling & Trafficking
Keywords: transmigrant, small boat, English channel
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According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 5.037 persons obtained Belgian nationality in May 2024. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in May are Morocco, Romania, Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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Tuesday 30 July is the International Day against Trafficking in Persons. On this occasion, the Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor's office, together with the Labour Auditor's Office, invite as many people as possible to be vigilant and to report suspicious situations via the Belgian helpline for victims of human trafficking or via the new telephone number: 078/055.800.
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Main theme: Smuggling & Trafficking
Keywords: victim of trafficking, national helpline
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This election year will be the fourth time that non-Belgians who reside in Belgium can vote in municipal elections. Yet participation remains low, as shown by the figures released by the FPS Interior ahead of the registration deadline, on 31 July 2024.
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Main theme: Integration
Keywords: election, vote, foreign national
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On 22 July 2024, the Minister of Justice officially launched the Blue Heart Campaign at the Antwerp city hall. EMN Belgium joined local authorities, the three specialised centres for victims of human trafficking, Myria, the Social Intelligence and Investigation Service and the IOM on this occasion. As one in three victims of human trafficking globally is a child, this year's global campaign urges accelerated action to end child trafficking.
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Main theme: Smuggling & Trafficking
Keywords: blue heart campaign, child victim of trafficking, victims of human trafficking
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According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.988 persons obtained Belgian nationality in April 2024. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in April are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Turkey.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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From 1 July 2024, adult asylum seekers who stay in a reception centre and who have a working income will have to contribute to this reception. Those who do not wish to contribute may consider staying outside the reception centre. They are free to leave the centre and find their own accommodation.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, financial contribution, material assistance
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The Immigration Office disclosed a new website aimed at informing applicants for international protection about the purpose and course of the registration. Each step of the process is explained in 16 languages via texts, audio, and videos. The website was co-funded by the European Union.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: registration, application for international protection
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In order to structurally shorten the duration of reception in Belgium, an amendment was made to the Reception Act. Anyone who receives a final negative asylum decision must leave the reception place within a period of 30 days.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, material assistance
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The Federal Judicial Police reveals that unaccompanied foreign minors in Belgium and throughout Europe are recruited by criminal organisations and forced to carry out theft or drug trafficking. The Federal Police draws attention to this invisible phenomenon and asks to make it a priority for action.
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Main theme: Vulnerable groups
Keywords: unaccompanied minors, forced criminality
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According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 5.882 persons obtained Belgian nationality in March 2024. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in March are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Turkey.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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According to the figures released by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, the share of Belgians with a Belgian background has decreased from 79,9% in 2004 to 64,8% in 2024. The share of Belgians with a foreign background increased by 5,1 percentage points between 2004 and 2014. The proportion of non-Belgians increased from 8.3% in 2004 to 13.7% in 2024.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: population structure, origin, Belgian, foreign background, non-Belgian
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The international migration balance, i.e. the difference between the number of immigrations and emigrations, was positive in Belgium in 2023. The positive international migration balance offset the negative natural balance and ensured a fairly strong population growth by 66.093 inhabitants, or by 0.57%.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: population movement, immigration, emigration
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The list of safe countries of origin, which is revised once a year, was updated on 12 May 2024 and is now published in Belgium’s Official Journal. At present, the following countries are considered as safe countries of origin: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia, India and Moldova.
