Return - IOM Publications - International Organization for Migration

Return Migration: Policies and Practices
from the Ukrainian authorities, but no valid travel documents were issued. Thus, the Ukrainian
authorities did not allow for return to Ukraine. In such cases it may happen, that expelled
migrants have to wait for long periods, before they are accepted for return, as is the case with one
Ukrainian who has been waiting for over a year, and has still not been removed).
Operational Steps for Involuntary Return
The Immigration Law provides for control of involuntary exit of migrants by the Office of Citizenship
and Migration Affairs and the Border Guard, where their claim for protection has failed
and they have been issued an expulsion order. Asylum seekers are generally accommodated in
reception centres, but expelled asylum seekers, who fail to leave in seven days, may be placed
under custody, which means in practice, that failed asylum seekers are de facto under custody all
the time and thus the removal is executed as soon as possible.
The exact time in which the execution of forced removal is possible depends largely on the
availability of travel documents. If the rejectee avails of valid travel documents and has not been
subject to criminal prosecution, removal is usually possible within a week.
The removal of foreigners lacking travel documents is more difficult, and the execution of
removal may take several months (or even years, as happened in the past), depending on the
willingness and cooperation of the consulate of the country of origin.
The new Asylum Law of 2002 does not specifically address this problem, although it introduces
the possibility to apply for temporary protection and alternative status in accordance with generally
accepted international principles of human rights.
In order to meet the time-consuming and costly problem, which Latvia shares with other receiving
countries presented in the study, Latvian Immigration Law provides under Section 45 and 49
for the possibility to issue a Latvian document for exit, where identity documents are missing.
Foreigners are generally expelled in cooperation with the Russian International Airline
AEROFLOT, as it is the airline that assures Latvia the cheapest fares. Of all airlines, this is most
often used, since it has the necessary connections to relevant cities in the CIS. Even flights to
Pakistan, and China stop over in Moscow. There are about seven other carriers (Lufthansa, SAS,
Finnair, Lot, CSA, Air Baltic, etc), but the problem is to avoid transit via airports in the EU, as
carriers will not accept risk passengers on such routes. Most expulsions take place by train or
even cars and buses.
Deportation orders are prescribed in the two Government regulations mentioned above and available
only in Latvian. For rejected asylum seekers, the decision can be taken in a single day by
OCMA. A person has to leave in five days after receiving this decision. If that does not happen,
then OCMA can take the decision of forced deportation in a single day. This decision can be
appealed, but the person has to be kept in detention.
Escorts
Only violent rejectees and migrants, who have served a sentence of imprisonment and are
expelled afterwards due to the double penalization, are escorted to the country of origin by the
Immigration police, which is now a Border Guard unit.
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