To Leave or Stay? Examining the Role of Counseling and Reintegration Assistance in the Return Decision-Making of Migrants Ordered to Leave the Netherlands

Across the European Union, only a small proportion of third-country nationals who are issued an order to leave by their host state comply and depart. Policymakers view enforcing these decisions as crucial to the integrity of their asylum and migration systems, and to maintaining (or at least, preventing the further erosion of) public trust in governments’ capacity to manage migration. As a result, countries have explored various ways to boost return rates.

One area of growing policy interest, and the focus of this study, concerns the role return counseling and reintegration assistance could play in how migrants make decisions about return. The Netherlands offers a compelling case study because the Dutch government has experimented with counseling methodologies and collaborated with different partners to deliver counseling and reintegration support.

This MPI Europe study explores how the timing, method, location, and actors involved in counseling and reintegration assistance shape their potential to influence migrants’ decision-making. Supported by a grant from the Research and Data Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, the research benefitted from access to nonpublic administrative data and to government officials and facilities. It draws on a mix of qualitative and quantitative data, including interviews with returnees, policymakers, and practitioners, to highlight the complexities of return decision-making.

Insights gained from this analysis could help policymakers—in the Netherlands and beyond—improve the targeting of their investments and the selection of high-value methodologies for counseling and reintegration support.