Return - IOM Publications - International Organization for Migration

Return Migration: Policies and Practices
1.5 BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED
Why Programmes Have or Have not Worked
As a result of the tolerance of the Portuguese authorities towards undocumented migrants,
immigration regulations are not always applied stringently, and each year only a small fraction
of the thousands who enter or reside illegally are detected and served with deportation orders. Of
those ordered deported, only a small percentage are actually expelled. In 2000 for instance, just
414 individuals out of 3,271 subject to deportation orders were actually expelled.
Cost Effectiveness Analysis
Compared to the annual budget of EUR 150,000 allocated to the assisted voluntary return programme,
the average annual budget for effecting deportations from 1998-2001 was about
EUR 470,000, representing a ratio of about 1:3.
The average cost of effecting deportations is estimated at between EUR 5,000-7,000 per person,
which covers administrative procedures, cost of transportation and the provision of escorts,
while the operation of assisted voluntary returns programmes is about EUR 650 per person.
2. ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURN
2.1 POLICY AND LEGISLATIVE INSTRUMENTS AND PROVISIONS
The Portuguese return policy favours voluntary returns over deportation, and a pilot programme
on voluntary returns was first initiated by a Cooperation Agreement and Protocol signed in 1997
by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior and the High Commissioner for Immigration
and Ethnic Minorities (ACIME).
The 1998 Aliens Act makes provision for assisted voluntary returns, Article 159 of which
provides that the government may initiate voluntary return programmes for illegal residents in
Portugal, with the cooperation of IOM. Consequently, upon completion of the pilot phase of the
programme, the government signed a Protocol with IOM in 2001 with a view to establishing a
more permanent voluntary return mechanism. The agreement is subject to annual renewal, and
aims to facilitate effective assisted voluntary returns of migrants. The programme receives an
annual budget allocation of EUR 150,000 from the Portuguese government, and is open to:
Refugees and asylum seekers;
Persons who have been offered temporary protection;
Legal and irregular migrants who wish to return to their home countries and do not possess
the means to do so.
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