Asylum crisis: more budget for more returns

The Belgian government has approved a budget of 30 million euros to substantially boost return services of the Immigration Service (DVZ). The same resources are also used to boost the decision-making capacity of the asylum authorities. “This allows us to shorten the asylum procedure and decrease the number of asylum seekers receiving shelter,” State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Theo Francken states. “People tend to forget that more than half of all asylum applications eventually lead to a negative outcome.”

Last year there were 9,880 refusals out of a total of 17,999 final decisions. This year, the number of rejected asylum applications will be much higher. “Our return capacity needs to increase substantially,” Theo Francken says. The return services of the Immigration Service are already being increased by 251 people. In addition, 114 places are being added in the detention centres, in addition to the 158 added earlier. “Step by step that’s how we evolve towards a double number [of places],” according to the Secretary of State.

Swifter decrease of the shelter’s population

“It is of the utmost importance to keep asylum procedures as short as possible, in order to keep shelter costs controllable,” Theo Francken explains. That is why extra budget is being added to recruit more staff at the asylum authorities. “We want to increase the number of final decisions to 3,000 a month; that is three times the current monthly influx.” Thanks to an extension of that decision-making capacity, the number in the sheltering system will also be allowed to decrease more quickly.

“A shift has started to take place,” Theo Francken concludes. “Thanks to the Balkan route being closed off, the influx has dropped to the lowest level in eight years; an average of just 45 asylum seekers a day come to Fedasil claiming right to shelter, with 145 leaving the shelter. With the new budget we hope to achieve a monthly decrease of 2,000 people, so that by next year we’ll end up back at the level we were at before the asylum crisis.”