The EU Commission’s Pact on Migration and Asylum of 2020^[1] established the aim to develop effective and humane procedures for the return of individuals not entitled to stay in the EU, which led to the creation of an EU Strategy for Voluntary Return and Reintegration.^[2] The strategy seeks to support Member States in their efforts of encouraging voluntary departure, which is viewed as more humane and dignified approach than forced return. This EMN inform focuses on the incentives and motives that Member States have developed to encourage voluntary departure through specific assistance programmes (AVRR programmes), factors that contribute to an individual’s decision-making process, and how these elements are interconnected.