(1)

In its conclusions on ‘Taking action to better manage migratory flows’ of 10 October 2014, the Council acknowledged that, while taking into account the efforts carried out by Member States affected by migratory flows, all Member States should give their contribution to resettlement in a fair and balanced manner.

(2)

This Regulation is based on the full and inclusive application of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as supplemented by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967 (the ‘Geneva Convention’).

(3)

A Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Framework (the ‘Union Framework’) should be established to complement other legal pathways. The Union Framework should offer the most vulnerable third-country nationals or stateless persons in need of international protection access to a durable solution in accordance with Union and national law.

(4)

On 19 September 2016, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly urged States to scale up resettlement efforts and envisaged a comprehensive refugee response framework in which States aim to provide resettlement places and other legal pathways on a scale that would enable the annual resettlement needs identified by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be met. The Global Compact on Refugees adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 2018 provides that voluntary contributions will be sought from States to establish or enlarge the scope, size, and quality of resettlement programmes.

(5)

In its communication of 13 May 2015 on a European Agenda on Migration, the Commission set out the need for a common approach to granting protection to displaced persons in need of protection through resettlement.

(6)

In its Recommendation to the Member States of 8 June 2015 on a European Resettlement Scheme, the Commission recommended that resettlement should be based on an equitable distribution key. This was followed by conclusions of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States meeting within the Council of 20 July 2015 to resettle, through multilateral and national schemes, 22 504 persons in clear need of international protection. The resettlement places were distributed among Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland in accordance with the commitments set out in the Annex to those conclusions.

(7)

On 15 December 2015, the Commission addressed a Recommendation for a voluntary humanitarian admission scheme with Turkey to the Member States and associated States, recommending that participating States admit persons displaced by the conflict in Syria who are in need of international protection.

(8)

In its communication of 6 April 2016 entitled ‘Towards a Reform of the Common European Asylum System and Enhancing Legal Avenues to Europe’, the Commission announced that it would set out a proposal for a structured resettlement system framing the Union’s policy on resettlement and providing a common approach to safe and legal arrival to the Union for persons in need of international protection.

(9)

In its resolution of 12 April 2016 on the situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holistic EU approach to migration, the European Parliament underlined the need for a permanent Union-wide resettlement programme which provides resettlement for a meaningful number of refugees, having regard to the overall number of refugees seeking protection in the Union.

(10)

On 27 September 2017, the Commission addressed a Recommendation to the Member States on enhancing legal pathways for persons in need of international protection. In response, Member States pledged to offer 50 039 resettlement places.

(11)

Building on existing initiatives, and in the context of the existing international architecture, a stable and reliable Union Framework should be established for the admission of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are in need of international protection to be implemented in accordance with a Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Plan (the ‘Union Plan’), which should fully respect Member States’ concrete indications with regard to their commitments.

(12)

The Union Framework should be placed in the context of international resettlement and humanitarian admission efforts. The contribution of the Union Framework to meeting global resettlement and humanitarian admission needs should help strengthen the Union’s partnership with third countries with the objective of showing solidarity with countries in regions to which a large number of persons in need of international protection has been displaced by helping to alleviate the pressure on those countries, fostering those countries’ capacity to improve reception and international protection conditions, and reducing irregular and dangerous onward movements of third-country nationals and stateless persons in need of international protection, in the context of migration.

(13)

In order to contribute to increasing resettlement and humanitarian admission efforts and reduce divergences among the national resettlement practices and procedures, a common procedure together with common eligibility criteria and grounds for refusal of admission should be laid down, as well as common principles regarding the status to be granted to persons admitted.

(14)

The common admission procedure should build on the existing resettlement and humanitarian admission experience and standards of the Member States and, if applicable, of the UNHCR.

(15)

The admission of family members of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are legally residing in a Member State, or of Union citizens, should be without prejudice to the rights laid down in Council Directive 2003/86/EC (4), Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) or to national law concerning family reunification. Such admission should therefore focus on the family members who fall outside the scope of those Directives or relevant national law, or who could not be reunited with their families for other reasons.

(16)

In order to ensure family unity, all family members in relation to whom a Member State intends to conduct an admission procedure, who are eligible and who do not fall under the grounds for refusal should, as a rule and to the extent possible, be admitted together. Should this not be possible, family members not admitted together should be admitted as soon as possible at a later stage. In the process of determining the parameters of a given family on whom a third-country national or stateless person is dependent, as referred to in this Regulation, Member States should recognise that the extended relations may be the last line of defence for individuals who rely exclusively on the family for survival, psychological support, and emotional care.

(17)

Member States should be able to choose in relation to whom to conduct an admission procedure, including on the basis of considerations relating to family composition. When making that choice, Member States should respect the principle of family unity. Member States should be able to require third-country nationals or stateless persons to demonstrate the existence of a family relationship.

(18)

The concept of danger to public health is understood as a disease with epidemic potential within the meaning of the International Health Regulations of the World Health Organization.

(19)

An admission procedure consists of the following stages: referral, where applicable, identification, registration, assessment and a conclusion on admission, as well as, in the case of resettlement, a decision on granting international protection or, in the case of humanitarian admission, a decision on granting international protection or humanitarian status under national law.

(20)

A positive conclusion on admission means that a person in relation to whom an admission procedure has been carried out for the purpose of resettlement or humanitarian admission has been accepted for admission by the Member State that reached that conclusion. A negative conclusion on admission means that such a person has not been accepted for admission by the Member State concerned.

(21)

Before granting international protection, a full assessment of the international protection needs of the third-country national or stateless person should be carried out.

(22)

In the case of an emergency admission, the assessment of the admission requirements established under this Regulation should be accelerated. Emergency admission should not necessarily be linked to the regions or third countries from which admission is to occur pursuant to this Regulation. All Member States should be encouraged to offer emergency admission places.

(23)

An admission procedure should be concluded as soon as possible, while ensuring that Member States have sufficient time for an adequate examination of each case. Member States should make every effort to ensure that a third-country national or stateless person in relation to whom a positive conclusion on admission was reached enters their territory no later than twelve months from the date of that conclusion.

(24)

Any personal data of persons granted international protection or a national humanitarian status in accordance with this Regulation should be stored for five years from the date of registration at national level. That five-year period should be considered to be sufficient for the purposes of the admission procedure, given that the majority of such persons will have resided for several years in the Union and will have obtained citizenship of a Member State. Given that third-country nationals or stateless persons who, during the three years before admission, were refused admission to a Member State because there were reasonable grounds for considering that they would be a danger to the community, public policy, security or public health of the Member State examining the admission file or on the ground that an alert has been issued in the Schengen Information System or in a national database of a Member State for the purposes of refusing entry should be refused admission pursuant to this Regulation their data should be stored for a period of three years from the date on which the negative conclusion on admission was reached. Given that third-country nationals who, during the three years before admission, have not given or have withdrawn their consent to be admitted to a particular Member State could be refused admission under the terms of this Regulation, the data should be stored for a period of three years from the date of discontinuation. The storage period should be shorter in certain special situations where there is no need to keep personal data for that length of time. Personal data belonging to a third-country national or to a stateless person should be erased immediately and permanently once that person obtains citizenship of a Member State.

(25)

There is no right to request admission or to be admitted by a Member State. Moreover, there is no obligation on Member States to admit a person pursuant to this Regulation.

(26)

Resettlement should be the primary type of admission, complemented by humanitarian admission and emergency admission, as appropriate, to address specific circumstances.

(27)

The Union Framework should aim to have all Member States contributing to the implementation of the Union Plan and scaling up their resettlement and humanitarian admission efforts with a view to contributing significantly to meeting the Global Resettlement Needs, including emergency cases.

(28)

To that end, the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund established by Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6) should provide targeted assistance in the form of financial incentives for each person admitted in accordance with the Union Framework, as well as for actions to establish appropriate infrastructure and services for the implementation of the Union Framework.

(29)

The European Union Agency for Asylum (the ‘Asylum Agency’) established by Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) should support Member States, on their request and in accordance with its mandate, in implementing the Union Plan, such as by assisting them in the implementation of certain elements of the admission procedure and by coordinating technical cooperation and facilitating the sharing of infrastructure between them.

(30)

The sharing of good practices among resettlement and humanitarian admission actors in relevant fora, including in the Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways, should be promoted.

(31)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the Union Framework, implementing powers should be conferred on the Council for establishing and amending the two-year Union Plan, fixing the total number of persons to be admitted and indicating what part of that number should be dedicated to resettlement, humanitarian admission and emergency admission, details about the participation of the Member States in the Union Plan and their contributions to the total number of persons to be admitted, a description of the specific group or groups of persons to which the Union Plan should apply, and the specification of the regions or third countries from which admission is to occur.

(32)

Conferring such implementing powers on the Council is justified in view of the fact that those implementing powers relate to national executive powers regarding the admission of third-country nationals on the territory of the Member States.

(33)

Amendments to the Union Plan to address new circumstances could include contributions to new regions or third countries that fully respect indications on a voluntary basis made by Member States at the High-Level Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Committee (High-Level Committee) through the reallocation of existing or new contributions.

(34)

Those implementing powers should be exercised on a proposal from the Commission on the total number of persons to be admitted and the specification of the regions or third countries from which admission is to occur fully respecting indications on a voluntary basis made by Member States before the proposal at the High-Level Committee. The Commission should make its proposal for the Union Plan simultaneously with its proposal on the draft Union annual budget in the year before the two-year period in which the Union Plan is to be implemented. The Commission should make its proposal for an amendment to the Union Plan simultaneously with a corresponding proposal on the draft amending budget, where necessary. The Council should aim to adopt the proposal within two months.

(35)

The provisions on the content of international protection contained in the asylum acquis should apply from the moment when a person admitted who is granted international protection arrives on the territory of the Member State concerned or, where international protection is granted after the person concerned arrives on the territory of the Member State, from the moment when that person is granted international protection.

(36)

The integration of persons admitted in their host society is important for a successful admission procedure. Persons admitted should have the same access to integration measures as beneficiaries of international protection in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8). Member States should be able to require participation in such integration measures only if those integration measures are easily accessible, available and free of charge. Member States should also offer, where considered to be feasible, a pre-departure orientation programme to third-country nationals or stateless persons. Such a programme could include information about their rights and obligations, language classes, and information about the social, cultural and political situation in the Member State. Such information could also be provided after entry to the territory of the Member State concerned or be included in integration measures, taking into account the particular vulnerabilities of the person admitted. Member States should also be able to arrange post-arrival orientation programmes tailored to the needs of persons admitted in order to provide those persons with guidance concerning, in particular, the learning of the language of the host Member State, education and access to the labour market, taking account of their specific vulnerabilities. In arrangements to be set by Member States the bodies and persons concerned, such as local authorities and persons who have already been admitted, should, as far as possible, be involved in implementing such programmes.

(37)

The secondary movement of all persons who have been admitted under this Regulation, including where humanitarian status under national law has been granted, should be discouraged. Member States, within the framework of Union law and policy, should cooperate effectively and without undue delay readmit persons who have been admitted in accordance with this Regulation and found in a Member State where they have no right to stay.

(38)

Without prejudice to the right to apply for international protection, Member States may, in the case of humanitarian admission, reach a conclusion on the admission of a third-country national or stateless person to its territory based on an initial evaluation and grant that person humanitarian status under national law.

(39)

The humanitarian status under national law should provide for rights and obligations equivalent to those of Articles 20 to 26 and 28 to 35 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. Such a status should be withdrawn only in the event that new circumstances or new evidence arise concerning the person’s eligibility following the decision on granting the status.

(40)

In accordance with the Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), in order to comprehensively reflect the efforts of each Member State, the number of third-country nationals admitted by the Member States through Union and national resettlement or humanitarian admission schemes should be taken into account in the assessment of the overall situation of the Union as part of the European Annual Asylum and Migration Report.

(41)

Given the expertise of the UNHCR in facilitating the different forms of admission of persons in need of international protection from third countries, to which they have been displaced, to Member States willing to admit them, the UNHCR should continue to play a key role under the Union Framework. It should be possible to call upon international actors in addition to the UNHCR, such as the International Organization for Migration, to assist Member States in the implementation of the Union Framework.

(42)

A High-Level Committee should be established to consult with stakeholders on the implementation of the Union Framework. The High-Level Committee should advise the Commission on issues related to the implementation of the Union Framework, including on a recommended number of persons to be admitted and the regions or third countries from which admission should be undertaken, taking into account the UNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Needs. The High-Level Committee should be able to make recommendations. The Commission should invite Member States to indicate, on a voluntary basis, at the meeting of the High-Level Committee, the details of their participation, including the type of admission and the countries from which admission is to take place, and their contributions to the total number of persons to be admitted under the Union Plan.

(43)

Resettlement and humanitarian admission efforts by Member States under this Regulation should be supported by appropriate funding from the Union’s general budget. In order to enable a proper and sustainable functioning of the Union Framework, Regulation (EU) 2021/1147 should be amended.

(44)

This Regulation does not affect the ability of the Member States to adopt or implement national resettlement schemes for example where they contribute an additional number of admission places to the total number of persons to be admitted under the Union Plan.

(45)

Complementarity with ongoing resettlement and humanitarian admission initiatives undertaken in the Union framework should be ensured.

(46)

This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and should therefore be applied in a manner consistent with those rights and principles, in particular as regards the rights of the child, the right to respect for family life and the general principle of non-discrimination.

(47)

Any processing of personal data by the authorities of the Member States within the framework of this Regulation should be conducted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (10).

(48)

Any processing of personal data by the Asylum Agency within the framework of this Regulation should be conducted in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (11) as well as with Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 and should respect the principles of necessity and proportionality.

(49)

Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to establish a Union Framework, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the scale and effects of the Union Resettlement Framework, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(50)

In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 and Article 4a(1) of Protocol No 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice, annexed to the TEU and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and without prejudice to Article 4 of that Protocol, Ireland is not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.

(51)

In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol (No 22) on the position of Denmark, annexed to the TEU and to the TFEU, Denmark is not taking part in the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application,

(1)

‘resettlement’ means the admission to the territory of a Member State, following a referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), of a third-country national or a stateless person, from a third country to which that person has been displaced, who:

(2)

‘international protection’ means international protection as defined in Article 3, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2024/1347;

(3)

‘humanitarian admission’ means the admission to the territory of a Member State, following, where requested by a Member State, a referral from the European Union Agency for Asylum (the ‘Asylum Agency’), from the UNHCR, or from another relevant international body, of a third-country national or a stateless person from a third country to which that person has been forcibly displaced and, at least on the basis of an initial evaluation, who:

(4)

‘emergency admission’ means the admission by means of resettlement or humanitarian admission of persons with urgent legal or physical protection needs or with immediate medical needs.

(a)

provide for the legal and safe arrival to the territory of a Member State of third-country nationals or stateless persons who are eligible for admission and who do not fall under the grounds for refusal under this Regulation with a view to granting them international protection in accordance with this Regulation or humanitarian status under national law referred to in Article 2, point (3)(c), and encourage all Member States to scale up their efforts to that end;

(b)

contribute to increasing the Union’s contribution to international resettlement and humanitarian admission initiatives with a view to increasing the overall number of available places for resettlement and humanitarian admission;

(c)

contribute to strengthening the Union’s partnerships with third countries in regions to which a large number of persons in need of international protection has been displaced.

(a)

the UNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Needs;

(b)

the scope for improving the protection environment and increasing the protection space in third countries;

(c)

the scale and content of commitments to resettlement or humanitarian admission undertaken by third countries with a view to collectively contributing to meeting the UNHCR Global Resettlement Needs.

(1)

Article 2 is amended as follows:

(2)

in Article 19, paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) are replaced by the following: