Of the 14.779 Ukrainian refugees registered with the VDAB, 45 percent (6.599) have already worked and 27 percent (4.045) are still working. Some argue that more should be done to guide them into work, inter alia encouraging language learning in the workplace.

Given the strong pressure on the Belgian reception system, Fedasil created more than 3.000 places in 2023. Despite these efforts, Fedasil ran out of places to accommodate all applicants for international protection last year.  

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced today that a new software was in the process of being developed with the digital product studio "In the pocket" to better manage information relating to the stay of third-country nationals in closed centres. 

According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.489 persons obtained Belgian nationality in November 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in November are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Turkey.

On the proposal of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, the Council of Ministers agreed today to the conclusion of a rental contract for land in Lodelinsart (Charleroi). Fedasil will make the site available to the Belgian Red Cross to place containers in order to increase the reception capacity for applicants for international protection.

The Department of Work and Social Economy is organizing an information session to explain the changes in regulations regarding the employment of foreign workers in Flanders. Such changes will enter into force on 1 March 2024.

The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) announced today that it would resume the processing of Sudanese cases from Darfur, Kordofan, Blue Nile and Khartoum as of 26 February 2024.

In 2023, 287 refugees were resettled in Belgium, including 154 Congolese from Rwanda, 81 Syrians from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, and 26 Sudanese, 18 Ethiopians and 8 Eritreans from Egypt. 

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced today that applications from nationalities that have very little chance of obtaining international protection, in particular Congolese, Moldovans and Georgians, will be processed in a fast-track procedure from 1 February.

Today, the Parliament of the Brussels Capital Region adopted in plenary session an ordinance relating to economic migration. The objective is to modernize, make coherent and simplify the current texts, to better respond to labour shortages identified in the job market.

A new reception centre that can accommodate a maximum of 135 applicants for international protection has opened in Ghent. This is the second reception centre managed by Fedasil in the city. Since 2020, the Agency has been organizing the reception of 250 people on a pontoon in the port of Ghent.

EU Home Affairs Ministers met today in Brussels during an informal meeting. Emphasis was placed on the need to finalize the legal texts of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and to start the implementation process. Ministers also discussed the future of Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection in Europe.

During a visit to the prison in Beveren, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration said that more illegally staying detainees are being sent back directly from prisons, through the work of the return counsellors in the detention facilities. 

According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.927 persons obtained Belgian nationality in October 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in October are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Poland.

In 2023, the Immigration Office registered a total of 35.507 applications for international protection. This is slightly less than in 2022 when a total of 36.871 applications for international protection had been registered in Belgium.

Today the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, in the presence of all relevant asylum and immigration services, presented the new migration code. This new code aims to clarify procedures, simplify the texts and better fight against abuse. 

According to an announcement from the office of the Brussels Social Minister Alain Maron, 155 additional emergency places are opened today to accommodate homeless or poorly housed people in Brussels. The emergency shelter welcomes everyone, regardless of residence status.

While in the past, Somali applicants from southern and central Somalia, with the exception of Mogadishu, were generally granted subsidiary protection status because of the security situation, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) now concludes that no region in Somalia is characterized by an exceptional situation in which the degree of indiscriminate violence is so high that it reaches the "real risk" threshold leading per se to the granting of subsidiary protection.        

In a press release published today, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGVS) announced that it would unblock the suspended cases of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and start again to process all Palestinian cases.

According to Statbel, the Belgian statistical office, 4.260 persons obtained Belgian nationality in September 2023. The main countries of origin of people who acquired Belgian nationality in September are Morocco, Syria, Romania, Afghanistan and Italy.

The first 15 asylum seekers have arrived today at the new Fedasil reception centre in Grimbergen. The new reception centre, which will accommodate up to 100 people, is specifically intended for people with medical problems, as well as their families.

On the proposal of the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor, the Council of Ministers agreed today on the extension of support measures for the reception and support of asylum seekers in the Brussels-Capital Region. A total of 2000 places are now available for asylum seekers who cannot immediately get a place in the Fedasil reception network.

In a press release published today, Myria says it receives many reports from people linked in one way or another to Belgium, who are stuck in extremely threatening circumstances in Gaza.

Nicole de Moor presented today a draft law which aims, in accordance with the federal government agreement, to enshrine in law a proactive return policy. The draft law inter alia provides for the obligation to cooperate in the return procedure and for the intensive individual follow up of third-country nationals who have received an order to leave the territory.

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration discussed today with mayors and aldermen of the five major cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent, Charleroi and Liège to find ways to reduce the administrative burden in the field of asylum and migration, to guide illegally staying third-country nationals towards return and to implement social initiatives promoting, among others, the employment of applicants for international protection.