According to Myria’s thematic booklet, the number of first applications for international protection in Belgium decreased in 2025, from 33.146 in 2024 to 27.574. This decline was mainly driven by fewer applications from Syrian and Palestinian nationals. The main nationalities among first-time applicants in Belgium were Palestinians (2.814), Eritreans (2.592) and Afghans (2.398). The number of decisions granting international protection also fell, from 16.528 in 2024 to 9.014 in 2025, while the recognition rate decreased from 47% to 28%. Myria also reports that 7.015 people were unable to access reception on the day they registered their application in 2025, most of them single men.

The booklet also examines the growing priority given to preventing secondary movements in Belgian and European migration policy. In Belgium, measures adopted in summer 2025 restricted access to reception for beneficiaries of international protection granted by another EU Member State (holders of an ‘M status’), whose applications were also prioritised by the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS). The authorities have also stepped up efforts to carry out transfers under the Dublin Regulation, including through the opening of a dedicated centre and more frequent extensions of transfer deadlines. At EU level, the new provisions introduced under the Pact on Migration and Asylum further strengthen the framework for preventing secondary movements. Myria warns that these developments may weaken procedural safeguards, in particular through shorter appeal deadlines, more frequent use of accelerated procedures and the removal of automatic suspensive effect for certain appeals.

Myria acknowledges that preventing secondary movements pursues legitimate objectives in the management of the Common European Asylum System. However, it stresses that these measures should not undermine the protection standards guaranteed to people seeking international protection. The booklet highlights, in particular, the sharp increase in inadmissibility decisions on the grounds that applicants already hold protection in another EU Member State: these decisions concerned 4.136 people in 2025, compared with 839 in 2024, and 77% of those concerned were Palestinian nationals. Myria also reports a decrease in the number of temporary protection certificates issued to people fleeing the war in Ukraine, from 13.277 in 2024 to 8.756 in 2025, alongside a refusal rate of 27%, the highest recorded to date. The organisation emphasises that, behind what is sometimes described as ‘asylum shopping’, there is often a search for effective protection, and calls for migration management to remain consistent with fundamental rights, human dignity and the rule of law.

For further details, please read the thematic booklet on international protection below (in French or Dutch).