EU Migration and Asylum Pact

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact is an agreement among EU member states on the rules for asylum and migration to the EU.

These rules are set out in new procedures and regulations for asylum and migration.

EU member states must put in place legal and operational tools to implement the Pact by June 2026.

Ireland signed up to be part of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact on 31 July 2024. You can read more about Ireland’s implementation plan below.

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact sets out to:

• Secure EU external borders
• Provide a fast and efficient asylum process
• Share responsibility for migration and asylum between EU member states
• Provide for international partnerships on migration

Secure external borders

Under the Pact, EU member states must:

• Register everyone who enters their country as an asylum seeker or an irregular migrant in Eurodac (the EU’s centralised database).
• Screen people who enter illegally. Screening involves making identity, security, health and vulnerability checks so the person can be placed in the appropriate procedure (border procedure, regular asylum procedure or return procedure).
• Have a border procedure. A mandatory border procedure will apply for asylum applicants who are unlikely to need protection, mislead the authorities or present a security risk. Return with reintegration support will apply for people who are not eligible for international protection.

The Crisis Regulation provides quick crisis protocols, with operational support and funding to EU member states in emergency situations.

Read more about secure external borders and the EU Migration and Asylum Pact.

Fast and efficient asylum process

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact includes 4 key elements to create a fast and efficient asylum process. It sets out:

Which country is responsible for an asylum application

The Asylum Migration Management Regulation determines which EU country is responsible for handling an asylum application.

Standards for reception and integration

The Reception Conditions Directive sets standards across the EU, ensuring adequate living conditions for asylum seekers and improves the integration processes.

Criteria for getting international protection

The Qualification Regulation sets out the criteria for international protection and clarifies the rights and obligations of beneficiaries. For example:

• Member states must use the EU Agency for Asylum guidance on countries of origin
• Assess whether there is an internal protection alternative (safe part within the country of origin) and not granting refugee status in such a case
• Withdraw international protection status when no longer needed, or where certain criminal acts are committed, or the person poses a security threat

Rights and obligations of asylum seekers

The Asylum Procedure Regulation sets out clear obligations for asylum seekers, with consequences for non-compliance. It also provides:

• New safeguards for asylum seekers and vulnerable people, particularly minors and families with children
• It introduces free legal counselling for all applicants in all asylum procedures, including the responsibility determination procedure, and it strengthens information rights

Read more about the asylum process under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact.

Shared responsibility between EU member states

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact is a legally-binding solidarity mechanism between EU member states.

The new rules clarify the criteria for which EU country is responsible for assessing an asylum application and prevents secondary movement.

Asylum seekers must apply for international protection in the EU country of first entry and stay there until the country responsible for their application is determined.

Read more about the responsibilities of EU member states under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact.

International partnerships on migration

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact also intends to promote legal migration pathways.

Find out more about partnerships between the EU and other countries on migration.

Most of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact measures will apply to international protection applications lodged from 12am (CET), 12 June 2026. Some measures will apply from 1 July 2026.

Applications submitted up to 12 June 2026 will continue to be dealt with under the current system and will not be transferred to the new system

This means there will be two parallel international protection processes in place for some time.

Irish legislation will be needed to implement the Pact.

Ireland has prepared a brief on its National Implementation Plan (NIP) (pdf) which outlines the transition to the new international protection system under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact.

The NIP provides information on:

• Designated reception centres for asylum seekers
• Screening of asylum seekers and people who enter illegally
• Asylum process
• Appeals process
• Deportations and returns

Designated reception centres for asylum seekers

Asylum applicants will submit an application for international protection at a designated reception centre.

Designated reception centres will have a multi-disciplinary team on site. Applicants can register an application, receive legal counselling and advice, get a vulnerability assessment and a health check, and interview for both a first-instance decision and an appeal in the same location within a new statutory timeframe.

Screening of asylum seekers and people who enter illegally

People arriving at ports or airports who are refused leave to land, or who claim asylum will be subject to initial security and identity checks and registered on the Eurodac system.

All screening processes are to be completed within 7 days and during this time, applicants will be accommodated in designated accommodation.

Once screening is complete, the applicant will be referred to the appropriate international protection application processing pathway. There will be 4 accommodation pathways:

• Border Procedure
• Standard Procedure
• Basic Needs
• Unaccompanied Minors

Applicants will be accommodated in accommodation centres based on their specific needs and entitlements. Unaccompanied minors will be accommodated by Tusla.

Asylum process

A new institutional arrangement will replace the International Protection Office.

The current international protection decision process will be replaced by a single first-instance decision on refugee status, subsidiary protection, and return/permission to stay and followed by a single appeal to cover refugee status, subsidiary protection, and return/permission to stay.

Under the Pact, there are 7 seven asylum processing procedures with specific time frames for completion to first-instance decision:

Return decisions will issue at the same time as a negative asylum decision in all cases.

If a person who received a negative decision and return decision lodges an appeal, they will enter the returns process while their appeal is under consideration. Revised legal counselling and legal assistance systems will support applicants.

Appeals process

A new appeal structure will be developed to replace the current International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT). Under the provisions of the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) there will be one appeal only after a first-instance decision and that includes an appeal of a return decision (if issued).

The 5 appealable decisions are:

• Application is rejected as inadmissible
• Application is rejected as unfounded or manifestly unfounded in relation to both refugee and Subsidiary Protection status
• Application is rejected as implicitly withdrawn
• International protection is withdrawn
• To return in accordance with article 37

The future appeals mechanism will have the power to set the original decision aside or to uphold a return decision.

Deportations and returns

Ireland did not opt into the 2008 Returns Directive or the Return Border Procedure Regulation but plans to align with the relevant provisions in Irish legislation.

There are 3 types of return;

• Voluntary departure
• Enforced deportation
• Return to the EU member state responsible under the new Asylum and Migration Management Regulation

If an applicant is eligible for voluntary departure, a period of between 7 and 30 days will be provided for in national legislation. They must advise the State of their departure. The payment of any reintegration assistance will be made subject to confirmation of return.

The EU Commission has recently published a proposal for a new legislative measure on returns.

Find out more about how Ireland will implement its obligations under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact.

The EU Migration and Asylum Pact creates a legal framework for EU member states for managing migration.

In Ireland, the International Protection Act 2015 will be repealed and replaced with new legislation. A new International Protection Act is expected to be enacted by June 2026.

Some EU regulations relevant to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact are already in force and others will come into force on 12 June 2026.

The EU provides a useful summary of all the regulations and the new change each regulation makes.

Ireland opted into the following measures of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact:

• Regulation (EU) 2021/2303 on the European Union Asylum Agency
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1346 Reception Conditions Directive (recast)
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1347 Asylum Qualification Regulation
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 Asylum Procedures Regulation
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1350 EU Resettlement Framework
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 Asylum and Migration Management Regulation
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1358 Eurodac Regulation
• Regulation (EU) 2024/1359 Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation Directive

Although Ireland cannot opt-in to the Schengen border measures in the Pact, particularly the Screening Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1356) and the Return Borders Procedure Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1349), it is intended that Irish legislation will align with them.