Quicker expulsion of criminal immigrants

The government is making it easier to revoke the residence permit of criminal immigrants and expel them to their country of origin. At the behest of State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, Theo Francken, a long string of measures have been approved to this end. Thus from now on we are still able to expel criminals, even if they were born here or came to Belgium before their twelfth birthday. The deportation procedure itself is also sped up and simplified, and incoming travel bans can apply for a longer period.

“After the record-breaking figures for the repatriation of criminal immigrants and the positive impact on the decrease of crime and overpopulation in the jails, we are now taking another big step in the right direction,” Theo Francken states. “We are creating a legal framework in which residence permits of criminal immigrants can be more quickly and efficiently revoked. Naturally the purpose of this is to remove then quickly to the country of origin. For this government, fighting crime is and remains the top priority.”

Immunity abolished

Due to the present legislation, some immigrants who had committed very grave crimes, such as murder, rape or terrorism, could not be expelled. Terrorist Salah Abdeslam, born in Belgium but of French nationality was and is an exponent of this, just like the twenty Syrian fighters that enjoy unlimited residence permits in Belgium, just because they were born here. “Unfortunately I couldn’t tackle them,” Theo Francken states ruefully, “but that’s now a thing of the past: a definitive end has finally been made to that type of immunity.”

Royal signature no longer needed

Until today, expelling immigrants with an unlimited residence permit had to be approved by the Minister or Secretary of State, and in some cases even required a Royal Decree signed by the King. This laborious working method is now largely a thing of the past: only in a limited number of cases is such intervention still required. The obligatory advice of the Advice Commission for Immigrants (Commissie van Advies voor Vreemdelingen, CAV) has also been scrapped. “Now we can act resolutely and withdraw the residence permits of criminal immigrants far more rapidly,” Theo Francken states with satisfaction.

Longer incoming travel bans

Finally, we can also impose incoming travel bans on Syrian fighters for longer stretches, which are applicable for the entire Schengen zone. In the past, the legal limit for such an incoming travel ban was ten years.