What determines whether rejected asylum seekers leave the Netherlands – or stay? Researchers Arjen Leerkes and Laura Cleton (ESSB) are challenging assumptions about return migration policies and shedding light on how personal characteristics shape return outcomes.
When asylum seekers are denied legal status in the Netherlands, the government faces a challenge: how to ensure their return to their country of origin. While “voluntary return” is often presented as the preferred option, and forced removal as a last resort, the reality is far more nuanced. ‘The line between “voluntary” and “forced” is more blurry than people think’, says Dr. Laura Cleton, a postdoctoral researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam. ‘Rejected asylum seekers are not just passive subjects in this process – they have agency, and the return outcomes that Dutch government data shows are crucially shaped by personal factors, and not just policy.’
Cleton collaborates with Prof. Arjen Leerkes, Lead of the FAiR (Finding Agreement in Return) project, an EU-funded research project to rethink the governance of return migration. FAiR’s research reveals that forced return outcomes are influenced less by policy measures and more by factors like family ties, economic conditions, and the safety of the home country.