Combatting irregular immigration is a key challenge in migration governance at EU level.
This book takes a novel perspective to address one of the most pressing problems of EU
return policy: the low return rate of irregularly staying migrants. Annually, only approx. 40 %
of all return decisions are actually enforced. Possible solutions to this problem may be found
in the domestic laws of selected EU Member States. Taking a comparative legal perspective,
this book analyses the German, Austrian and Spanish legal system. These three Member
States combat the irregular stay of migrants with the help of a differentiated system of
regularisations. The present study considers regularisations as an alter native to returns.
These legal instruments terminate the irregular residence of migrants, not through
deportation, but rather by granting a right of residence. This approach is based on the firm
belief that regularisations are (an empirically) frequently encountered, effective and legitimate
instrument of migration law. Upon this basis, the book develops the following thesis: more
effective combatting of irregular immigration at EU level could be achieved through
regularisations laid down in EU law, which would complement the existing EU return policy.