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According to the provisional monthly results of the statistics on changes of nationality, 3.885 persons obtained the Belgian nationality in December 2023. This raises the total figure for 2023 to 54.813 persons who obtained the Belgian nationality.
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Main theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: acquisition of citizenship, Belgian nationality
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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.
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Main theme: Integration, Temporary protection
Keywords: Ukraine, employment rate, labour market access, language barrier
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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.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, reception crisis, reception capacity
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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.
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Main theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: closed centre, digitalisation
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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.
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Main theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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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.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception capacity, reception centre, container
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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.
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Main theme: Economic migration
Keywords: foreign workers, employment
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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.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: Sudan, application for international protection, individual need for protection
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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.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: resettled refugee, resettlement, community sponsorship
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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.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: accelerated procedure, fast-track procedure, application for international protection
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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.
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Main theme: Economic migration
Keywords: labour market shortage, shortage occupation, Brussels, foreign workers
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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.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, Ghent
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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.
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Main theme: Return & Readmission
Keywords: return counselling, prison, detention, illegally staying person
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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.
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Main theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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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.
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Main theme: Data & Statistics
Keywords: asylum figures, application for international protection, asylum applications
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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.
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Main theme: Cross-sectional
Keywords: Migration Code, immigration law, reception law
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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.
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Main theme: Vulnerable groups
Keywords: homeless shelter, extreme cold plan, homelessness
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Researcher and author Pascal Debruyne will present his book which contains stories of parents and minors who struggle through the family reunification procedure and stories of care providers who try their best to support these families. Panel discussions will also take place with experts in this field.
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Main theme: Family Migration
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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.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: Somalia
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As the end of the year is approaching, the team of the Belgian Contact Point to the European Migration Network (EMN) wishes you a happy holiday season. We also wish you and your loved ones, all the best for the new year!
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Main theme: Cross-sectional
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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.
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Main theme: International Protection
Keywords: Gaza, West Bank, refugee status, subsidiary protection status
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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.
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Main theme: Citizenship & Nationality
Keywords: access to nationality, Belgian nationality
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While a draft law introducing a new right of residence for stateless persons is currently being discussed in Parliament, ENS and Nansen underline that the project has a large number of formal and substantive conditions and reduced procedural guarantees. They conclude that it is not compatible with the obligation to have a fair, effective and accessible procedure for the access of stateless people to their rights.
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Main theme: Statelessness
Keywords: stateless persons, right of residence
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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.
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Main theme: Reception
Keywords: reception centre, medical care
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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.
