Advancing Alternative Migration Governance
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Key Concepts in the Advancing Alternative Migration Governance EU Exit Regimes in Practice: Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania An Interim Report on Albania Talitha Dubow, Sze Eng Tan, Katie Kuschminder June 2021 This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 822625. The content reflects only the authors’ views, and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania Advancing Alternative Migration Governance Publication information You are free to share and cite the material if you include proper reference. Suggested citation: Dubow, T., Tan, S. E., and Kuschminder, K. (2021). EU Exit Regimes in Practice: Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania, ADMIGOV Interim Report for Deliverable 2.4. Maastricht: Maastricht University. Available at URL http://admigov.eu You may not use the material for commercial purposes. Acknowledgments We would like to thank all the research participants who generously gave their time to speak to us and share their experiences. We are also very grateful to Dr. Ilir Gëdeshi for his invaluable assistance in coordinating the fieldwork and facilitating the interviews. Thank you also to Linela Markja Saliaj and Eno Gjika who provided translation assistance. This paper has been written by T Dubow, Sze Eng Tan and Katie Kuschminder. The views presented are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: [email protected] and [email protected] ADMIGOV 2019 Deliverable number D …….. p. 2 Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania Advancing Alternative Migration Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 5 2. Exit Governance and Trends in Albania .................................................................................. 8 2.1 Migration trends in Albania .................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Exit governance: returns to Albania .................................................................................... 10 2.3 Post-Exit policy and experiences in Albania ........................................................................ 12 3. Methodology ........................................................................................................................ 15 3.1 Research design .................................................................................................................. 15 3.2 Data collection .................................................................................................................... 15 3.3 Research participant characteristics ................................................................................... 16 3.4 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 18 4. Migration decision-making and experiences ........................................................................ 20 4.1 Reasons to migrate ............................................................................................................. 20 4.1.1 Difficult economic conditions .......................................................................................... 20 4.1.2 Children’s Education and Future ...................................................................................... 22 4.1.3 Healthcare ........................................................................................................................ 22 4.1.4 Community and family insecurity and tensions ............................................................... 24 4.2 The decision-making process .............................................................................................. 24 4.3 Respondents’ expectations of migration ............................................................................ 26 4.4 Experiences in the destination country .............................................................................. 27 4.4.1 German policy changes before and after 2015 ................................................................ 27 4.4.2 Conditions in the country of destination ......................................................................... 29 5. Return decision-making and experiences ............................................................................. 31 5.1 Anticipating return .............................................................................................................. 31 5.2 Assisted voluntary return .................................................................................................... 32 5.3 Forced removal ................................................................................................................... 35 6. Return and reintegration experiences .................................................................................. 37 6.1 Economic reintegration ...................................................................................................... 38 6.2 Socio-cultural reintegration ................................................................................................ 41 6.3 Safety and security .............................................................................................................. 43 6.4 Overall perceptions of return conditions ............................................................................ 44 6.5 Re-migration aspirations ..................................................................................................... 45 7. Effects of policy on sustainable reintegration in Albania ...................................................... 49 ADMIGOV 2021 p. 3 Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania Advancing Alternative Migration 7.1 Pre-Exit policy ..................................................................................................................... 49 7.2 Exit policy: Return ............................................................................................................... 50 7.3 Post-Exit policy: Reintegration ............................................................................................ 52 7.4 The post-Exit monitoring process in Albania ...................................................................... 54 8. Concluding remarks .............................................................................................................. 56 8.1 Return decision-making ...................................................................................................... 56 8.2 Return experiences ............................................................................................................. 57 8.3 Reintegration experiences .................................................................................................. 57 8.4 Re-migration and links to EU Entry governance ................................................................. 58 List of references .......................................................................................................................... 60 ADMIGOV 2021 p. 4 Sustainable Return and Reintegration in Albania Advancing Alternative Migration 1. Introduction This interim report of the Advancing Alternative Migration Governance project (ADMIGOV) provides a case study of the EU Exit regime’s implications for return and reintegration processes in Albania. Following on from ADMIGOV Deliverable 2.1 (Oomkens & Kalir, 2020), in this report we refer to Exit (with a capital E) as: …the policies and practices that are aimed at having irregular migrants leave the territory of Member States of the European Union (EU) and of the EU as a whole. […] By Exit regimes we refer to both the legal and operational infrastructure that governs Exit. Legal infrastructure refers to the formal procedures (laws, regulations, directives, readmission agreements, etc.) that, firstly, determine the illegalization of status for irregular migrants, and, secondly, outline the process that should result in their voluntary/assisted return or forced removal from EU territories. Operational infrastructure refers to the work of, and the investment in, state and non-state agencies responsible for the implementation of the process that is put forward by the legal infrastructure. The operational infrastructure thus includes agencies and organizations in charge of pre-removal detention, forced deportation, assisted and voluntary return programs, and partnership programs (p.7). The aim of this interim report is to assess sustainable reintegration post-Exit in Albania. Specifically, this report examines: • return migrants’ decision-making regarding the acceptance or refusal of assisted voluntary return packages; • return migrants’ experiences since their return to Albania. In this analysis we seek, in particular, to understand whether migrants who are returned to Albania via assisted voluntary return or forced removal are being sustainably reintegrated in Albania; • in what ways reintegration processes are impacted by EU Exit regimes; • the post-Exit monitoring process in Albania. As stated in ADMIGOV Deliverable 2.1 on Exit (Oomkens & Kalir, 2020), the Sustainable Development