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. 

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.  

On 5 September 2024, the UN Refugee Agency was awarded the "Fair Play for Peace Award" for its ongoing work to improve the lives of refugees, displaced and stateless persons through sport, in particular following the launch of the Agency's "More than a Game" sport strategy which promotes sport as a powerful vehicle for peace, inclusion and social cohesion.

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. 

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.

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.

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.  

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.

Op 25 en 26 juni 2024 organiseerden EMN België en zijn partners een high-level conferentie om het Pact voor te stellen en de volgende stappen voor de uitvoering ervan te schetsen. Het evenement, waaraan 400 stakeholders deelnamen, belichtte de kansen en uitdagingen van het Pact en de noodzaak en het potentieel van partnerschappen om het Pact effectief te implementeren.

The Belgian Red Cross announced the opening of a new reception centre for applicants for international protection in Brussels. It will be able to accommodate up to 360 people.

While not a new phenomenon, the exploitation of workers employed in the nail industry has gained increased attention in recent years. Multiple reports point to this sector as being a target of choice for human trafficking and economic exploitation.

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.

Cindy Ngamba, a 25-year-old Cameroonian refugee living in the United Kingdom, won the bronze medal in the boxing discipline at the Paris Olympics. She is the first athlete in any sport to secure a medal while representing the refugee team.

An IOM-Harvard report shows that close to half of the child victims of trafficking were being trafficked for forced labour (mainly boys), in a wide range of industries, such as domestic work, begging and agriculture. Sexual exploitation, including through prostitution, pornography, and sexual servitude, is also prominent, affecting 20 per cent of trafficked children, predominantly girls.    

As of 1 August 2024, the European Commission will support nine Member States, including Belgium, in preparing their National Implementation Plans for the Pact on Migration and Asylum. These countries will receive targeted support to carry out situational analysis and identify the necessary actions to implement the Pact in line with the Common Implementation Plan.

The latest report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) identifies systemic gaps and obstacles to investigating rights violations at EU borders. The report suggests concrete steps to ensure more effective investigations into incidents of loss of life and ill-treatment at the EU’s borders.

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.

In a judgement from 29 July 2024, the Court of Justice of the EU states that a Member State may reject an abusive application for an authorisation to reside on its territory for the purpose of study, even if it has not correctly transposed the directive that provides for that option.

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.

In a press release from 26 July 2024, Myria, the Federal Migration Centre, calls on the authorities, given the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, to make greater efforts in terms of information provision and administrative and procedural flexibility, both in terms of access to evacuation and the submission and processing of visa applications.

Op 22 juli 2024 lanceerde de Minister van Justitie officieel de Blue Heart-campagne op het stadhuis van Antwerpen. EMN België was er bij, net als de lokale overheden, de drie gespecialiseerde centra voor slachtoffers van mensenhandel, Myria, de Sociale Inlichtingen- en Opsporingsdienst en IOM. Omdat één op de drie slachtoffers van mensenhandel wereldwijd een kind is, focust de wereldwijde campagne dit jaar op versnelde actie om een einde te maken aan kinderhandel. 

In het 2024 Rule of Law Report, in het landenhoofdstuk over de rechtsstaat in België, beveelt de Europese Commissie aan dat België stappen onderneemt om ervoor te zorgen dat overheidsinstanties definitieve uitspraken van nationale rechtbanken en het Europees Hof voor de Rechten van de Mens naleven. Hierbij wordt met name gewezen op vonnissen die de staat verantwoordelijk houden voor het niet bieden van adequate opvang aan asielzoekers.

Met 401 stemmen voor, 284 tegen en 22 blanco of ongeldig uitgebrachte stemmen, heeft het Europees Parlement op 18 juli Ursula von der Leyen verkozen tot voorzitter van de Europese Commissie. Ze presenteerde haar Politieke Richtlijnen voor de volgende Europese Commissie 2024-2029, waarin ze onder andere verwees naar veiligheid, buitengrenzen en migratiebeheer.

Op 14 juli 2024 treedt de herziene EU-richtlijn ter bestrijding van mensenhandel in werking met strengere regels om mensenhandel tegen te gaan. De herziene richtlijn introduceert strengere strafbaarstellingen en biedt sterkere instrumenten voor overheidsinstanties om nieuwe vormen van uitbuiting, waaronder online uitbuiting, te onderzoeken en te vervolgen, en om betere hulp en ondersteuning aan slachtoffers te bieden.

Het aantal irreguliere grensoverschrijdingen naar de Europese Unie daalde in de eerste zes maanden van 2024 tot ongeveer 94.000, volgens voorlopige gegevens verzameld door Frontex. De Westelijke Balkan en de Centrale Middellandse Zee noteerden de grootste dalingen in het aantal gedetecteerde irreguliere grensoverschrijdingen, terwijl West-Afrika en de Oostelijke landgrens de grootste stijgingen zagen.