Immigration Office (Office des étrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken)

Cellule d'appui stratégique / Coordination des données stratégiques

Chaussée d'Anvers 59b

B-1000 Bruxelles

Belgium

1. Introduction

This metadata information is provided by Belgian Immigration Office (Office des étrangers / Dienst Vreemdelingenzaken) to ensure compliance with the requirements of Articles 5 and 7 of Regulation 862/2007 on Community Statistics on Migration and International Protection.

As required by Article 9 of the Regulation 862/2007, Member States must report to Eurostat on the data sources used, the reasons for the selection of these sources and the effects of the selected data on the quality of the statistics. Member States shall provide it with all the information necessary to evaluate the quality, comparability and completeness of the statistical information.

The reference terms for the assessment of quality compliance are provided by Eurostat in the EIL technical guidelines applied for 2014 reference period (See section 3.4 Statistical concepts and definitions from the EIL ESMS file). Most of this is applicable for previous years.

2. General description of the statistical domain at national level

EIL National System (level of development, main changes that affected the system in the last years and further development)

A new application called TARAP (Transmission automatisée des rapports administratifs de la police) was developed. It is an ICT application whose purpose is to speed up the communication of administrative reports between the Immigration Office and the Federal Police.

Legal national framework relevant for EIL statistics

Law of 15 December 1980 on entry, stay, settlement and removal of foreign nationals

Institutional infrastructure (list of the institutions involved in managing the EIL registers and the institutions involved in the production of the EIL statistics)

Immigration Office using data produced by this organisation, the Federal Police and the International Organization for Migration.

General procedure for recording Non-EU citizens refused entry at the external borders

Decisions of refused entry and effective departures recorded in the individual file of foreign nationals within the database of the Immigration Office (Evibel) on the basis of the information transmitted by the Federal Police.

General procedure for recording Non-EU citizens found to be illegally present

The information on apprehensions of foreign nationals is recorded in the individual file of foreign nationals within the database of the Immigration Office (Evibel) on the basis of the information transmitted by the Federal Police. The information on the status of the apprehended person is recorded in the taken same file. 

General procedure for recording Non-EU citizens ordered to leave

All orders to leave taken by the Immigration are recorded in the individual file of foreign nationals within the database of the Immigration Office (Evibel).

General procedure for recording Non-EU citizens returned following an order to leave

In the case of voluntary or enforced returns organised by the Immigration Office, all steps of the return procedure are recorded in the individual file of foreign nationals within the database of the Immigration Office (Evibel) and in specific databases on enforced returns and voluntary return, in particular return decision(s), attempts of returns, results of attempts...

In the case of returns organised by other bodies, a monthly list of returns is transmitted to the Immigration Office.

3. Main problems that affect the quality of the data and what tables are concerned including the compliance status with the definitions from EIL Technical Guideline

(See metadata information including concepts and definitions from the EIL ESMS file)

Citizenship is the citizenship declared by the person. In some case, in particular in the case of persons illegally present, it may not reflect the real citizenship of the person.

Some persons have been recorded as persons subject to an order to leave more than once in the same reference period for 2008-2012 for tables

The number of foreign nationals of unknown citizenship is not negligible in particular in apprehension data.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

National systematic process of gathering data for official statistics.

Not available.

Description of the data validation system at national level

Estimations used: Details on the estimations done for EIL statistics (methodology applied and the concerned categories and tables)

In apprehension data, for persons identified as citizens of former-Serbia-Montenegro (about 60 cases) and former-Yugoslavia (about 30 cases), the current citizenship is not known and they are distributed among current citizenship of the succeeding countries on the basis of the number of cases for these succeeding countries.

Not available.

Not available.
New concept added with the migration to SIMS 2.0.
Information (content) will be available after the next collection.

1. Description of the Quality management system at national level

EIL tables are produced by the Statistical Unit of the Immigration Office.

Before their transmission to Eurostat, the results are validated by the Statistical Unit and the Operational Unit responsible for the treatment of the concerned cases (refusals, apprehensions, returns) on the basis of a short note written by the Statistical Unit presenting the results, focusing in particular on 1/ methodology, 2/ quality problems, 3/ observed evolutions, 4/ new phenomena, 5/ explanation of the divergence of the national and EU statistics resulting from diverging definitions, 6/ explanations of unexpected results and outliers…

• Good quality (extensive quality) - covers all quality requirements and substantial quality checks are performed and a very good cooperation exists between institutions.
• Sufficient quality (acceptable quality) - covers minimum requirements, but issues still exist and more information/validation is needed for a better quality assessment and acceptable cooperation issues exists.
• Poor quality (inadequate quality) - the data do not meet the minimum requirements or there is not enough information for quality assessment and important cooperation issues exists.

1. General aspects

The statistics collected under the Regulation 862/2007 are widely used in official publications and by a wide range of users at national, European and International level.

Main users of EIL statistics at national level
The EIL statistics produced are regularly used by national administrations: academic researchers and civil society groups working on a wide range of topics including the integration of immigrants, the development and monitoring of national asylum and immigration procedures, and the projection of the future population and labour force.

The following national institutions and administration entities can be mentioned in this context:

Immigration Office, Cabinet Ministers, Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, Federal Migration Centre, academic researchers... 

 
Main users of EIL statistics at European and International level
The main users of EIL statistics are Eurostat, DG Home Affairs and EASO. NB: Frontex/FRAN statistics are closely linked to EIL statistics at national level and currently FRONTEX data are mainly using methodologies developed for Eurostat. The statistics are used in several publications of the Commission, as well as in the preparation of regular reports, policy proposals and analysis. The statistics also provide an input to the EMN studies and reports that address specific issues of current policy importance.

2. EIL data publication at national level

Presentation of the EIL statistics published at national level

Although they are provided on request, EIL statistics provided to Eurostat are not published as such at national level. Actually, other statistics on the Enforcement of Immigration Legislation are used and published at national level using different methodologies and/or definitions (e.g.: including EU citizens, including Dublin cases...). 

Differences between the data provided to Eurostat and the data published at national level (Comparability of figures)

Concerning refused entries:

• Two statistics exists at national level: statistics on decisions and statistics on effective refusals.
• EU citizens may be included (extremely rare) at national level.
• A distinction is made between refused asylum seekers and other foreign nationals.

Concerning foreign nationals found to be illegally present:

• EU nationals are included at national level (they represents 8% of apprehensions)
• Statistics published at national level are disaggregated by the decision taken by the Immigration following the apprehensions (issuance of an order to leave, detention, release).
• Statistics published at national level are not disaggregated by age and sex.
• Statistics published at national level are based on a slightly different source (list of apprehensions taken by the service in charge of the treatment).
• One person may be counted several time (if he/she is apprehended several times).

Concerning foreign nationals ordered to leave:

• EU nationals are included at national level (they represents 11% of persons ordered to leave)
• Orders to leave taken in the framework of the Dublin regulation are included.
• One person may be counted several time (if he/she is ordered to leave several times).

Concerning returns:

• EU nationals are included at national level.
• Dublin transfers and bilateral readmission with EU countries are included.
• Voluntary returns to EU countries are included.
• A disaggregation of forced return by presence/absence of a police escort is made.

Not applicable

Completeness of the data provided based on Articles 5 and 7 Regulation 862/2007 (mandatory data provision) and justification of the missing mandatory breakdowns and completeness of the data provided on voluntary basis.

Not available.

Procedures and classifications used in case of missing information (e.g. unknown citizenship, age, etc)

The number of missing citizenship is limited for refused entry (about 5 cases) and no specific procedure/classification is used (these cases are recorded in the category "unknown).

The number of missing sex (about 30 cases) and missing age (90 cases) is limited in apprehension data and no specific procedure/classification is used (these cases are recorded in the category "unknown).

The number of foreign nationals of unknown citizenship is less negligible in apprehension data (655 cases) and data on orders to leave (1135 cases). However, no specific procedure/classification is used to estimate the real citizenship of these persons (these cases are recorded in the category "unknown) in order to make the user aware of the weakness of this variable. In the short term, we do not expect significant improvements regarding this issue due to the difficulty / length of the identification procedure as well as the possible advantages expected from the non-communication of the real identity in case of apprehension.

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

 *target population refers to the population that should be included (as it is specified in technical guidelines)

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

[Not requested]

Details related to the data revision policy and expected revisions of the data sent to Eurostat

Data is final.

[Not requested]

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Problems with data provision to Eurostat in due time and the impact of these problems on the data quality provided to Eurostat

No problem.

Not available.

1. Provision of data using the Eurostat EIL Technical Guidelines and exceptions applied

Nothing to report except the non-registration of "recognised non-citizens". 

2. Details on categories of Non-EU citizens difficult to be classified using the reference definitions from EIL technical guidelines and the categories excluded from these reasons (excluded from the statistics reported)

Citizens of former-Yugoslavia and Serbia-Montenegro.

3. Description of records related to "Unknown" country of citizenship category

Persons whose current citizenship is not identified.

4. Description of records related to "Unknown" age category

Persons whose current age is unknown.

5. Description of records related to "Unknown" sex category

Persons whose sex is unknown.

6. Establishing the reported ground in case of “multiple grounds” for the same refusal and the impact on double counting of the person in the same dataset

It is applied the methodological procedure of "one ground per refused person", as laid down in EIL Technical Guidelines (procedure of "higher” ground overrules the “lower” ground for refusal).

7. Type of "external border" applicable

Sea border and Air border

8. The definition of “refused Non-EU citizens” applied

The Schengen Borders Code's refusal definition is applies for the Statistics reported to Eurostat

9. The correspondence between the national system of “grounds for refusal" classification and Schengen Borders Code classification.

No difference

10. The definition of “Non-EU citizens found to be illegally present” applied

Non-EU citizens apprehended by the Federal Police who stay illegally in the country.

11. The definition of “Non-EU citizens ordered to leave” applied

Non-EU citizens ordered to leave by the Immigration Office (including cases where the Immigration Office ask municipalities to issue an order to leave).

12. The definition of “Non-EU citizens returned following an order to leave” applied

Non-EU citizens returned following an order to leave :

• including enforced returns excluding Dublin transfer and in some tables/columns excluding transfer in the framework of bilateral agreement within the EU
• including assisted voluntary returns (excluding rare Dublin transfer through voluntary return)
• currently excluding confirmed unassisted voluntary returns (this could change in the future)

Not applicable.

Methodological changes between the present reference year and previous year(s)

No recent changes

Justification of the important changes in figures reported for the present reference year and previous year(s)

No significant changes

Not applicable.

1. Links between the statistics on refused Non-EU citizens and the statistics on Non-EU citizens found to be illegally present.

No direct link.

2. Links between the statistics on Non-EU citizens found to be illegally present and the statistics on Non-EU citizens with obligation to leave.

Persons found to be illegally present are necessarily ordered to leave. Since a persons can only be found to be illegal after the issuance of an obligation to leave. If the apprehended persons found to be illegal has not yet received an order to leave at the date of apprehension or if the previous order to leave is not valid anymore, a new order to leave will be issued. On the opposite, apprehended persons represent “only” between ¼ and 1/5 of issued obligations to leave

3. Coherence between the EIL statistics and Asylum statistics

See 8.3

4. Dublin cases included in EIL statistics and the impact on the totals provided 

Not included (except if the Dublin procedure is closed and Belgium is the responsible country. In this case, the person can later appear in apprehension/order to leave/return data)

5. Inclusion of voluntary returned Non-EU citizens in the statistics on Non-EU citizens who actually left the territory 

Yes. If the voluntary return is assisted.

Links between the EIL statistics and Asylum statistics and details related to the asylum applicant(s) case(s) included in EIL statistics. 

Persons having a pending asylum application cannot be including in the statistics on refusals during the procedure. They may be included after the procedure closure.

Persons ordered to leave at the end of the asylum procedure are included in the statistics on persons ordered to leave (except Dublin cases).

Persons having a pending asylum application cannot be including in the statistics on return during the procedure. They may be included after the procedure closure.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

1. Links and differences between the Non-EU citizens with obligation to leave and Non-EU citizens who actually left the territory

In order to be included in the statistics on Non-EU citizens who actually left the territory the person must be previously ordered to leave. However, all persons ordered to leave are not included in return statistics, because: these persons may return voluntarily without assistance; they may remain in the territory illegally; forced returns are not systematically organise; attempts of forced returns are not systematically successful; the person may receive a residence permit after the issuance of an obligation to leave..

2. Links and differences between the Non-EU citizens who actually left the territory and Non-EU citizens who left the territory to a third country

Persons who leave the territory to an EU country in the framework of an assisted voluntary return or in the framework of a transfer on the basis of a bilateral agreement (mainly with France, The Netherlands and Germany) are excluded from the second statistics.

Not available at national level.

Not available at national level.

Presentation of the National online national database for EIL data accessible to the public and the accessibility procedure

Not available at national level.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not available.

Presentation of the available quality management - documentation

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

Not available.

The following classification is used for data availability at Eurostat level:

The term "not applicable" relates to the categories of data which do not exist in national legislation/administrative procedures and therefore such statistics cannot be issued.

The term "not available" relates to categories of data that exist in the national legal/administrative system but cannot be delivered under EIL data collection for various reasons (e.g. data cannot exist, data exist but are not collected, data are unreliable, etc.).