What is The Assisted Voluntary Return?

Answers to frequently asked questions

The Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration measure provides third-country nationals with the opportunity to return to their country of origin through an individual project, which includes pre-departure counselling, logistic and financial assistance for the journey, assistance to the social and economic reintegration in the country of origin.

Those migrants, who decide to return to their country in an assisted way through the active AVR&R projects and fulfil the requirements provided for the access to the programme, receive the following assistance:
o a guidance service to the measure;
o support and covering of the required expenses for the issue of the travel document, which has to be requested at the Consulate of the country of origin;
o the assistance in the journey organization and the covering of the relevant costs up to the final destination;
o the health assistance up to the final destination, if necessary and following an assessment, for those migrants suffering from documented pathologies;
o the provision of a first accommodation grant, useful for the the incurring of immediate costs upon return (for ex. transfers within the country), which is provided in cash to the migrant before the departure;
o economic in-kind contribution in the country of origin, in order to ease the social reintegration and the job placement of the final beneficiary

WHO CAN GET ACCESS TO THE ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURN AND REINTEGRATION MEASURE?
The following third-country nationals can get access to the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration measure (art. 11 of the EU Regulation n. 516/214):
o third-country nationals who have not yet received a final negative decision in relation to their request to stay, their legal residence and/or international protection in a Member State, and who may choose to make use of voluntary return;
o third-country nationals enjoying the right to stay, legal residence and/or international protection within the meaning of Directive 2011/95/EU, or temporary protection within the meaning of Directive 2001/55/EC in a Member State, and who have chosen to make use of voluntary return;
o third-country nationals who are present in a Member State and do not or no longer fulfil the conditions for entry and/or stay in a Member State, including those third-country nationals whose removal has been postponed in accordance with Article 9 and Article 14(1) of Directive 2008/115/EC.

WHO CAN NOT GET ACCESS TO THE ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURN AND REINTEGRATION MEASURE?
o The EU nationals;
o The nationals from visa-free countries as set out in the enclosure II of the Regulation N. 1086 dd. 14/11/ 2018 [1], which lists the third-countries, whose nationals are exempt from the visa requirement upon crossing the external borders of the Member States for lengths of stay not exceeding 90 days within a period of 180 days [1]
o Those migrants, who already benefited from the assisted voluntary return programmes.
o The recipients of an expulsion order as criminal sanction or as a consequence of a criminal sanction, the recipients either of an extradition order, or of a european arrest warrant or of an arrest warrant by the international criminal Court

HOW CAN I ACCESS AN ASSISTED VOLUNTARY RETURN PROGRAM?

Assisted Voluntary Repatriation projects are promoted by the Ministry of the Interior - Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration, funded with European and / or national economic resources and implemented by public bodies and non-governmental organizations active in the immigration sector.
European funding is three years and there may be periods when the projects are not active.
Migrants interested in taking part in one of the Assisted Voluntary Return projects, can directly turn to one of the implementing partners, which manage the projects
The following projects are currently activated:

- ERMES 3- progetto gestito dal Centro Informazione e Educazione allo Sviluppo (CIES) Onlus
- INTEGRAZIONE DI RITORNO 4 - progetto gestito dal Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati (CIR)
- BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 - progetto gestito dal Gruppo Umana Solidarietà G. Puletti (GUS)
- UNO: UNA NUOVA OPPORTUNITA’ – progetto gestito da COMITATO EUROPEO PER LA FORMAZIONE E L’AGRICOLTURA Onlus CEFA
- RE-BUILD – progetto gestito da CO&SO – CONSORZIO PER LA COOPERAZIONE E LA SOLIDARIETA’ – CONSORZIO DI COOPERATIVE SOCIALI – SOCIETÀ COOPERATIVA SOCIALE
- THE WAY OF THE FUTURE – progetto gestito da ARCI MEDITERRANEO IMPRESA SOCIALE SRL

For further information

What is The Assisted Voluntary Return?

Answers to frequently asked questions

EESC: Voluntary returns may become a euphemism for expulsions

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