Relocation

EU Relocation should not be confused with resettlement. Relocation within the European Union enables those who requested asylum in one EU Member State to travel to another EU Member State, where their asylum application will be further processed.

Intra‑EU relocation is an expression of internal EU solidarity and responsibility sharing. In particular, it supports those countries at the external borders of the European Union that are most affected by sudden increases in the arrival of persons who seek international protection. Through this tool, EU Member States can help one another to cope with the pressure on their asylum systems by relocating persons in need of international protection who have requested asylum. As such, it is a tool that allows for comprehensive pre‑departure support and the subsequent movement of applicants for international protection. What is pre‑departure support?

From 2015 to 2018, an EU‑wide emergency relocation scheme was implemented. Within that scheme, IOM provided pre‑departure support such as migration health assessments and pre‑departure orientation sessions as well as movement assistance to more than 34,500 asylum seekers who were relocated from Italy and Greece to 25 EU Member and Associated States.

IOM continues to extend its support to those Member and Associated States willing to take in migrants and refugees from other EU countries. As such, the Organization has facilitated 8,380 relocations from Greece, Italy, Malta, France, and Spain since 2018. In 2021 only, IOM contributed to the relocation of 2,853 beneficiaries from Greece, Italy and Malta to 16 EEA countries. We believe that the experiences from the EU wide emergency relocation scheme the most recent voluntary relocation implemented by IOM in cooperation with partners and with funding from the European Commissioncan serve as a basis for the establishment of a future predictable solidarity mechanism.