Counselling and reintegration assistance have become central tools for European governments aiming to incentivise and support the uptake of assisted return among migrants facing a return order. In recent years, the European Union has allocated more resources to strengthening these mechanisms, and Dutch policymakers have similarly undertaken efforts to encourage assisted return. Yet the actual influence of actions on migrants’ return decisions remains widely debated. New evidence from the Netherlands offers a clearer picture of how these forms of support function in practice, what shapes migrants’ decision-making, and what kinds of interventions make a meaningful difference.
 
This Migration Policy Institute Europe webinar will explore the findings of its new study for the Research and Data Centre (WODC) of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security. The study analyses nearly 118,000 case files from the Dutch Government’s Repatriation and Departure Service (DTenV), combined with interviews with dozens of experts as well as Iraqi and Nigerian migrants who left the Netherlands after receiving a return order. 
 
Speakers will discuss how timing, counselling approaches, and partnerships shape the potential for counselling to create space for meaningful conversation and results in the returns space. They also will focus on practical steps to strengthen investments in this area.