REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ...
REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ... REGINE Regularisations in Europe Final Report - European ...
emedies against administrative decisions. In addition, in some Member States (notably in Germany, and, outside the European Union, in Switzerland), special bodies (so-called ‘hardship commissions’) have been charged to adjudicate ‘hardship cases’ or to advise authorities on decisions on humanitarian stay. In some cases, commissions with an advisory mandate or otherwise informally include other stakeholders from the NGO community. 128 The implications of different institutional set-ups and procedural variations have not been investigated in this study. There is some evidence, however, that ex-officio procedures without any possibilities for legal redress are problematic and may result in arbitrary and inconsistent decisions. Generally, the effects of different institutional designs call for further study and might be a suitable issue for the identification and exchange of good practices. Related proposal(s): Options 1c, 1d 3.3.3 Avoiding the creation of illegal immigrants The assumption is frequently made that immigrants with an irregular status are in such a situation through crossing a border illegally, breach of visa conditions, or rejection of asylum applications. Table 1, above, gives an indication of the main categories of illegal entry, residence and employment. Although the majority of irregular residents participating in regularisation programmes are in the above categories, a significant minority (varying by country of residence and origin) is in an irregular status for other reasons. These are shown in Table 2, as the bottom two rows. We classify these categories as ‘created illegal immigrants’, for which state policy is primarily responsible. Below, we identify some specific cases. 3.3.3.1 Persons whose residence permits have expired, but they remain in employment This occurs for a variety of reasons directly emanating from state procedures. First, weak bureaucracy and inefficiency in residence or work permit procedures can result in long delays and irregular status – particularly where permits are of short duration (1 or 2 years). Secondly, onerous obligations for the renewal process may lead to immigrants being unable to satisfy those conditions; such obligations include i. the requirement of a full-time employment contract ii. the payment of social insurance as if in full-time employment 129 iii. very high application fees for residence/work permits 130 128 In Austria, for example, NGOs, alongside other stakeholders, are represented in the Advisory Council on Asylum and Migration Affairs which (as two separate institutions) was first created by the 1997 Aliens Law. The Advisory Council was involved in decisions on humanitarian stay in an advisory role between 1998 and 2005. Apparently its recommendations were largely followed by the Ministry of the Interior (Interview, Karin König, Vienna City Administration, 27 February 2008). 129 In Greece, the average annual payment of social insurance by TCN workers in the construction sector exceeds that made by Greek workers, but is still insufficient to satisfy the criterion of full-time employment. 130 Application fees for residence permits range from €15 in Italy, €50 in Germany up to €900 in Greece (longterm) and €1,078 in the UK (indefinite leave to remain). Excessive fees for residence permits are proscribed in both the European Convention on Establishment (ETS 019) and the European Convention on the Legal Status of Migrant Workers (ETS 093). Article 21(2) of ETS 019 states that the amount levied should be “not more than the expenditure incurred by such formalities”. ETS 093 goes further, and states in Article 9(2) that residence permits should be “issued and renewed free of charge or for a sum covering administrative costs only”. Article 50
iv. the requirement to appear in person, or to queue, taking up many working days when the employee is not granted permission to do so by the employer v. unnecessary documentation, often requiring costly official translations and copies, when the state bureaucracy either already has such documentation or does not need it. In our view, such causes of illegal residence are needless and require immediate corrective action in policy and bureaucratic implementation. Related proposal(s): Option 10a 3.3.3.2 Persons who migrated as minors or were born on the territory In a considerable number of EU countries (and our surveys did not specifically focus on this issue), it is evident that there is a serious problem with children who have been born on the territory and could not receive the citizenship of the host country, who migrated as children accompanying their parents, or who arrived as unaccompanied minors and were institutionalised. In the Greek regularisation of 2005, 13.1% of illegal immigrants awarded legal status were children under 16, and 3.9% of recipients of 1-year individual humanitarian cases were under 16. 131 In France, residence permit data for 2006 show that 53% of those granted a permit on the basis of residence >10 years were aged 18- 24: presumably, they had migrated to France as children
- Page 5 and 6: Preface In December 2007, the Europ
- Page 7 and 8: 1 Terms, definitions and scope 1.1
- Page 9 and 10: Table 1: Types of illegal or irregu
- Page 11 and 12: 1.3 Freedom of movement rights and
- Page 13 and 14: 1.4 The meaning of ‘regularisatio
- Page 15 and 16: Regularisation Mechanism A regulari
- Page 17 and 18: 2 Previous comparative studies on r
- Page 19 and 20: Generally, the focus of SOPEMI repo
- Page 21 and 22: enefiting from regularisation has s
- Page 23 and 24: amnesty and moreover involved (limi
- Page 25 and 26: 2. 3 The Odysseus study on regulari
- Page 27 and 28: etween expediency and obligations c
- Page 29 and 30: Sunderhaus identifies several ratio
- Page 31 and 32: whether it can be attributed to pul
- Page 33 and 34: Box 2: 3-tier earned regularisation
- Page 35 and 36: measures; it does address questions
- Page 37 and 38: 3.1.1 Regularisation Programmes Ove
- Page 39 and 40: Nine Member States provided details
- Page 41 and 42: Figure 3 Grants of regularised stat
- Page 43 and 44: Box 3: Regularisation policy in Swi
- Page 45 and 46: 3.2 Regularisation as a policy resp
- Page 47 and 48: Table 5: Comparative table of regul
- Page 49 and 50: case in Europe, alongside the more
- Page 51 and 52: that a year after regularisation so
- Page 53 and 54: treatment according to nationality,
- Page 55: iii. issues of advance planning iv.
- Page 59 and 60: denying residence permits to existi
- Page 61 and 62: efugees under the provisions of the
- Page 63 and 64: 4 Government positions on policy 15
- Page 65 and 66: 5 Positions of social actors 5.1 In
- Page 67 and 68: Since the 1990s - and in some count
- Page 69 and 70: live their lives without fear.” 1
- Page 71 and 72: admission policies. 181 The Danish
- Page 73 and 74: and useful, if planned and implemen
- Page 75 and 76: depend on (unskilled) immigrant lab
- Page 77 and 78: migration”. 209 In the opinion of
- Page 79 and 80: stresses that “economic immigrati
- Page 81 and 82: undocumented migrants by the Brusse
- Page 83 and 84: NGO/Country Main activities in rega
- Page 85 and 86: NGO/Country Assessment of own role/
- Page 87 and 88: known that this makes them vulnerab
- Page 89 and 90: eaching reforms of the overall fram
- Page 91 and 92: Accord of March 2008 have not yet b
- Page 93 and 94: Table 8: Suggested target groups fo
- Page 95 and 96: policy measures that could be adopt
- Page 97 and 98: followed by the granting of any sta
- Page 99 and 100: for irregular migrants, while Italy
- Page 101 and 102: interpretations of the EU directive
- Page 103 and 104: considered to be “flexible, adapt
- Page 105 and 106: iii. Measures and sanctions against
iv. the requirement to appear <strong>in</strong> person, or to queue, tak<strong>in</strong>g up many work<strong>in</strong>g days when the<br />
employee is not granted permission to do so by the employer<br />
v. unnecessary documentation, often requir<strong>in</strong>g costly official translations and copies, when the<br />
state bureaucracy either already has such documentation or does not need it.<br />
In our view, such causes of illegal residence are needless and require immediate corrective action <strong>in</strong><br />
policy and bureaucratic implementation.<br />
Related proposal(s): Option 10a<br />
3.3.3.2 Persons who migrated as m<strong>in</strong>ors or were born on the territory<br />
In a considerable number of EU countries (and our surveys did not specifically focus on this issue), it<br />
is evident that there is a serious problem with children who have been born on the territory and could<br />
not receive the citizenship of the host country, who migrated as children accompany<strong>in</strong>g their parents,<br />
or who arrived as unaccompanied m<strong>in</strong>ors and were <strong>in</strong>stitutionalised. In the Greek regularisation of<br />
2005, 13.1% of illegal immigrants awarded legal status were children under 16, and 3.9% of<br />
recipients of 1-year <strong>in</strong>dividual humanitarian cases were under 16. 131 In France, residence permit data<br />
for 2006 show that 53% of those granted a permit on the basis of residence >10 years were aged 18-<br />
24: presumably, they had migrated to France as children
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