Countering irregular migration: EU policies explained

To counter irregular immigration, the EU strengthens border checks, fights smugglers, makes returns more efficient, tackles migration root causes and more.

Published: 30-06-2017 Last updated: 03-11-2025 - 13:18 17 min read

What is irregular migration?

Irregular migration is the movement of people from non-EU countries across EU borders without complying with the legal requirements for entry, stay, or residence in one or more EU countries.

Irregular migration in Europe - key statistics

Irregular border crossings are one way, besides overstaying one’s visa, in which people end up living in the EU without having a proper permit. In 2015, there was a significant increase in the number of irregular border crossings into the EU. According to data from Frontex, the EU's border agency, there were over 1.8 million irregular border crossings, the highest number ever recorded.

Since then, the number of irregular border crossings has decreased significantly. In 2024, about 239,000 people were detected entering the EU irregularly, marking a 38% drop in irregular border crossings compared to the previous year. This is the lowest level since 2021, when migration was still affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Discover more figures on migration in the EU

Fighting migrant smugglers

Organised crime groups are often involved in smuggling people by land, sea or air as they profit from vulnerable people that are looking to find a new home. While the EU is trying to help people that find themselves in danger when crossing borders, it is taking measures against the migrant smuggling networks that put their lives at risk.

Parliament and the Council came to an agreement in October 2025 on reinforcing the mandate of the EU’s law enforcement agency, Europol, in the fight against migrant smugglers. A new centre will be established within Europol to coordinate efforts between Europol and two other EU agencies, Eurojust and Frontex. This will enhance joint investigations and intelligence sharing against transnational criminal networks.

The centre will provide operational, technical and forensic support to EU countries, focusing on dismantling high-risk smuggling and trafficking groups. It will also ensure victim identification and data protection. Europol will be granted €50 million and 50 new staff to boost its capacity and improve cooperation on crimes committed via social media.

The Commission launched an updated EU action plan in September 2021 to fight migrant smuggling networks, covering the years 2021 to 2025. The plan aims to improve cooperation and information sharing between EU countries and law enforcement agencies to track down and prosecute migrant smuggling networks. It focuses on areas such as financial crimes, recovering illegal profits, document forgery, and online smuggling. The plan also aims to involve countries along the main migration routes to the EU.

Strengthening the EU's external border management and security

The lack of internal border controls in the Schengen area must go hand in hand with compensatory measures to strengthen the external borders. Concerns about irregular migration have driven many national governments to erect border fences along their land borders with non-EU countries. The European Parliament has been working on legislative measures to improve the security of external borders and has adopted a number of legislative files in this respect.

Systematic checks for non-EU travellers at Schengen external borders

The EU is replacing passport stamps with a digital registration system known as the entry/exit system. The system records biometric data and travel details of non-EU nationals entering or leaving the Schengen area.

EU countries started to roll out the system as of 12 October 2025. They have until 10 April 2026 to launch the system completely.

Read more about the entry/exit system

Etias: authorisation for non-EU visa-exempted travellers

The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) is an electronic pre-travel security screening tool designed to identify potential security risks. It will require travellers from visa-exempt countries to obtain an electronic travel authorisation before travelling to the EU. The authorisation will be valid for three years or until the passport expires and will allow multiple entries into the Schengen area for stays of up to 90 days within a six-month period. It is expected to be launched towards the end of 2026.

Read more about the EU’s online screening system for travellers

Screening migrants at and within the EU’s external borders

The EU has introduced revised rules on how people arriving at its external borders are checked. These rules are part of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum adopted in 2024 and aim to make border procedures faster, safer, and fairer.

Under the revised rules, non-EU citizens must go through a screening process if they have been found trying to cross the border without meeting entry conditions, rescued at sea or if they apply for asylum at a border point.

The checks include identification, fingerprinting, security checks, and preliminary health and vulnerability assessment. The screening procedure should take up to seven days.

In negotiations with the EU governments, MEPs secured a strong, independent monitoring mechanism in each EU country to protect the fundamental rights of people undergoing screening.

Faster asylum decisions at external EU borders

Another component of the pact is a new border procedure that is to be performed directly after screening those who request asylum at the EU's external borders, are apprehended in relation to an irregular border crossing or after being rescued at sea. The aim is to quickly assess at the EU’s external borders whether applications for asylum are unfounded or inadmissible.

The procedure is mandatory if the applicant is a danger to national security or public order, if they have misled the authorities or if the applicant is from a country where fewer than 20% of asylum requests are typically approved.

The procedure should be completed in 12 weeks, including appeals. In the case of a rejection or dismissal of a claim, the failed applicant should be returned within 12 weeks. While asylum seekers are undergoing the border procedure, they will not be allowed to enter the EU country.

During negotiations, MEPs pushed to ensure that:

free legal counselling is available to applicants in all administrative procedures
unaccompanied minors would not be subject to border procedures, unless they present a security risk
families with children are offered appropriate reception conditions

The European Commission will set the maximum number of asylum applications that each EU country should process at its borders.

Referring asylum seekers back to safe non-EU countries

Under the asylum procedure regulation, national authorities may decide that an asylum application is inadmissible if the applicant comes from a safe non-EU country. That would be a country that treats asylum seekers in accordance with accepted international standards.

While EU countries will still rely on their own lists of safe countries, eventually, the rules envisage a convergence towards an EU list of safe non-EU countries and safe countries of origin.

Thwarting destabilisation attempts through irregular migration

In recent years the EU has seen attempts by governments and non-state actors to artificially create migration waves towards EU countries in order to destabilise them. This does not only put extra burden on EU countries, but also creates humanitarian crises by trapping irregular migrants between borders.

The EU has adopted a series of measures to address migrant instrumentalisation, which include border control measures, new legislation, sanctions, and diplomatic and humanitarian actions. One action is the adoption of the Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation, which is another component of the Pact on Migration and aims to give EU countries more flexibility when they apply asylum and border procedures in crisis situations.

European Border and Coast Guard Agency

In December 2015, the Commission put forward a proposal on establishing a European Border and Coast Guard with the aim of reinforcing the management and security of the EU's external borders and supporting national border guards.

The new agency, which was launched in October 2016, united Frontex and the national authorities responsible for border management. There are plans to give the agency a standing corps of 10,000 border guards by 2027. The agency also has a stronger mandate on returns and cooperates more closely with non-EU countries.

Following accusations of the agency not complying with its own rules, Parliament established in January 2021 the Frontex Scrutiny Working Group to monitor all aspects of its work, including compliance with fundamental rights.

In December 2023, MEPs called for Frontex to do more to improve EU countries’ capacity to carry out search and rescue at sea, but also to scale down its operations in EU countries which do not respect EU principles and values to mere monitoring and presence on the ground.

Integrated Border Management Fund

In a resolution adopted in July 2021, Parliament approved the renewed Integrated Border Management Fund (IBMF) and agreed to allocate €6.24 billion to it. The fund helps to enhance EU countries’ capacities in external border management while ensuring fundamental rights are respected. It also contributes to a common, harmonised visa policy, and introduces protective measures for vulnerable people arriving in Europe, notably unaccompanied children.

The fund works closely with the Internal Security Fund, focusing on tackling terrorism, organised crime and cybercrime. The Internal Security Fund was also approved by Parliament in July 2021 with a budget of €1.9 billion.

Internal border controls

Apprehended non-EU citizens with irregular status often arrive from another EU country. This may fuel mistrust between member states of the Schengen area and may lead to the reintroduction of controls at internal Schengen borders which could disturb free movement.

The EU has adopted new rules for a more resilient Schengen area that promote police cooperation in border regions to address unauthorised movements within the Schengen area. The rules aim to make sure that the reintroduction of border controls remains a last-resort measure.

MEPs insisted during negotiations on clear criteria for imposing internal border controls in response to serious threats. A justified reason, such as an identified and immediate threat of terrorism, is required before internal border controls can be introduced and such controls would have a time limit of up to two years. If the threat persists, border controls could be extended by one more year.

The new rules also lay out procedures available to Schengen countries in situations where migration is used by foreign countries as a way to apply pressure on the EU or a specific EU country. Migrant instrumentalisation can be answered by limiting border-crossing points.

Returning irregular migrants more efficiently

European travel document for the return of migrants with irregular status

In September 2016, Parliament approved a Commission proposal for a standard EU travel document to speed up the return of non-EU nationals staying irregularly in the EU without valid passports or identity cards. The regulation has been applicable since April 2017.

The Schengen Information System

The Schengen Information System was reinforced in November 2018 to help EU countries with the return of ilrregularly staying non-EU nationals to their country of origin. It now includes:

alerts on return decisions by EU countries
national authorities responsible for issuing return decisions having access to data from the Schengen Information System
safeguards to protect migrants’ fundamental rights

EU Return Directive

The EU Return Directive is the main piece of legislation that sets out the procedures and criteria that EU countries must implement when returning people from outside the EU who have been staying irregularly.

The key features of the Return Directive include a general rule of allowing the irregularly staying person to leave voluntarily, a minimum set of basic rights for irregularly staying migrants, limitations on coercive measures and detention, as well as an entry ban throughout the EU following a return.

In a report adopted in December 2020, MEPs called for the better implementation of the EU Return Directive, urging EU countries to respect fundamental rights and procedural safeguards when applying EU legislation on returns, as well as prioritise voluntary returns.

In March 2025, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new approach to returns. As only about 20% of those who have been issued a decision to leave the EU actually do so, the proposal aims to make returns simpler, faster and more effective.

Check out facts and figures on the return of irregular migrants

The new EU Agency for Asylum and the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund

The EU Agency for Asylum, formerly known as EASO, is responsible for supporting EU countries in their implementation of asylum rules, with the aim of making the overall EU migration management system more efficient and sustainable.

The Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) is a financial instrument that supports the EU's efforts to manage migration.

In December 2021, Parliament approved the fund's budget for 2021-2027, which increased to €9.88 billion.

Preventing irregular immigration by tackling the root causes of migration

Conflict, persecution, ethnic cleansing, extreme poverty and natural disasters can all be . In July 2015, MEPs urged the EU to adopt a long-term strategy to help counteract these factors.

In order to tackle the root causes of migration, an EU scheme aiming to mobilise €44 billion in private investment in neighbouring countries and in Africa was backed by MEPs on 6 July 2017. It has been in force since September 2017.

Read about the reasons why people migrate

Agreements and partnerships with non-EU countries

EU-Türkiye migration agreement

The EU-Türkiye agreement was signed in March 2016 in response to the increased number of irregular migrants and refugees entering the EU through Türkiye following the civil war in Syria. Both parties agreed to ensure improved reception conditions for refugees in Türkiye and open up safe and legal channels to Europe for Syrian refugees.

Under the agreement, Türkiye agreed to take back all irregular migrants and refugees who arrived in Greece from Türkiye after 20 March, 2016. In return, the EU agreed to provide financial assistance to Türkiye to support the hosting of refugees in the country, as well as to accelerate the accession process of Türkiye to the EU and provide visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens traveling to the EU.

In a report adopted on 19 May 2021, MEPs underlined Türkiye’s important role as host to nearly four million refugees, noting that the challenges in addressing this crisis have increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic. They condemned, however, the use of migratory pressure as a tool for political leverage following reports that the country’s authorities encouraged migrants and asylum seekers with misleading information to take the land route to Europe through Greece.

Cooperation with other countries

In recent years, the EU has expanded its cooperation with non-EU countries. The goal is to tackle the main causes of irregular migration by helping partner countries become more stable, secure, and resilient. The EU also works with them to improve governance, create jobs and economic opportunities, and develop skills that meet both local and international labour market needs.
Tunisia (2023): A Mermorandum of Understanding was signed with Tunisia to strengthen border-control capacity, counter smuggling, and support Tunisia’s economic stability and labour-market reform.
Egypt (2024): A major partnership package was agreed between the EU and Egypt, including initiatives for improved border-management, job creation and infrastructure investment to tackle migration drivers.
Mauritania (2024): Cooperation with the country was enhanced to address irregular departures from West Africa, as well as to offer support for refugees and internally displaced persons in the Sahel region.