Return of illegal immigrants to their countries: joint flights

KEY POINTS

• Every EU country appoints a national authority responsible for organising or participating in joint flights.
• The authority organising a joint flight must:
  • provide the relevant information to other EU countries;
  • select the airline involved and ensure all the contractual and practical arrangements are in place;
  • request and receive authorisations from the flight’s transit and destination countries;
  • make the appropriate arrangements, including financial ones, with other EU countries participating in the flight;
  • define the operational details and procedures, including the number of escorts required.
• An EU country participating in a joint flight must:
  • inform the national authority organising the flight of its intention to participate;
  • provide a sufficient number of escorts;
  • ensure the presence of at least 2 of its representatives if the organising country provides all the escorts.
• Organising and participating countries must:
  • ensure escorts and all those being deported have valid travel papers and other necessary documents, such as visas and certificates;
  • provide the flight arrangements to their embassies and consulates in the transit and destination countries involved to receive any necessary assistance.
• The decision sets out detailed procedures and requirements for the five phases involved in removing illegal immigrants:
  • pre-return
  • pre-departure
  • in-flight
  • transit
  • arrival.

These cover issues such as check-in, security and the use of coercive measures¹.

• Operational cooperation between EU countries also covers:
  • transit assistance for removal flights;
  • organisation of flights for illegal immigrants subject to individual removal orders;
  • mutual recognition of expulsion decisions.