Bulgaria has released its programme and priorities for its six-month Presidency of the Council of the EU.  Both IOM and UNHCR have published recommendations to the Bulgarian Presidency.

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.

In December of this year, the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons was asked by the Belgian government to carry out an independent enquiry on the fate of the Sudanese nationals who recently returned to their country of origin.

CESSMIR organises a conference to present its research results, followed by reflections on these results from the practice and interactions with the audience.

A the beginning of December 2017, the European Commission has published the common "Return Handbook". It provides Member States with common guidelines, best practices and recommendations to be used by Member States' competent authorities when carrying out return-related tasks. 

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.

Today the Commission adopted a new communication requiring immediate action from the EU and Member States to disrupt the modus operandi of traffickers, strengthen victims' rights and intensify EU internal and external efforts to provide a coordinated and consistent response.

Myria launches today the 8th edition of Myriatics. This edition sheds light on immigrations from foreigners to Belgium. It reflects inter alia on the position of EU-28 citizens within total immigrations to Belgium, as well as on the increasing importance of Syria as country of origin of immigrants to Belgium.

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 an amending regulation came into force, establishing a new common design and enhanced security features for residence permit cards in the EU.

The Global Conference on Cities and Migration was held on 16-17 November 2017 in Mechelen, Belgium. Local and regional actors requested to be recognized as key actors in migration management and policy making.

Belgium has made progress in a number of areas to combat human trafficking and has managed a considerable number of convictions of perpetrators. Improvements are expected inter alia to enhance the identification of child victims and prevent the disappearances of unaccompanied children. 

As of 2 November 2017, family members of foreign nationals who obtained a long term resident status in another Member State and reside in Belgium will not have to obtain a work permit if the long term residents themselves do not require such a permit.

Join the Asylum and Migration Policy Event of the Belgian Contact Point of the EMN in order to discuss the main developments of the year 2017 in the fields of migration and asylum in Belgium. 

This full day conference will provide an opportunity to exchange information on family reunification schemes, in Ireland and abroad. Drawing on the findings of a recently published European Migration Network study the family reunification policy frameworks operational elsewhere in the EU will be discussed and compared.

The Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee are organising a conference on "From Crisis Management Towards Everyday Practice: Lessons from the refugees' integration for future labour market and social policies", on 6 November in Brussels.

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.

A joint European Migration Network & OECD event will take place on 9th November 2017. Two thematic sessions are presented within this full-day event: "Challenges and good practices in family migration policies" and "Illegal employment of third-country nationals in the EU: Challenges and solutions".

This conference aims to explore the complexity and significance of the migratory phenomenon in the world to come. Key speakers will contribute to the conference.

Today, the Belgian National Contact Point of the European Migration Network organized an event in Brussels to discuss the irregular employment of third country nationals.

In the summer of 2017, more and more transit migrants, who wish to go to the UK, were staying in the Maximilian park in Brussels. The Belgian government did not want this park to become ‘a new Calais’. A number of transit migrants were intercepted and detained. Because a lot of them were presumed Sudanese, a Sudanese delegation was invited to come to Belgium for identification. Left-wing politicians and NGOs stressed that the Sudanese regime’s human rights record is particularly worrying. Campaigns were organised to better inform the transit migrants. On 04.10.2017 these issues were debated in the Belgian Parliament.

In preparation for the IMISCOE workshop on 1 December 2017, abstracts focusing on migration aspirations should be sent at the latest today!

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.

In the framework of the Estonian Presidency of the Council, the Estonian Contact Point of the EMN organized the annual EMN conference on 21 and 22 september in Tallinn. The event gathered key stakeholders who discussed good practices and challenges in attracting and retaining talents in the EU and in the Member States.