Final Report on Entry

This deliverable is the final report for ADMIGOV WP1 on entry governance. It synthesizes the findings of WP1 research (Section 2). On this basis, it provides an evaluation of current EU policies and practices of entry governance and outlines a first set of suggestions for potential criteria and indicators for designing ‘good governance’ measures with regard to entry (Section 3). The development of such criteria and indicators is a key objective of ADMIGOV, to take place over the course of the project. The remainder of this introduction will provide an overview of the research that was conducted in WP1, its starting point and questions.

WP1 research started from a shared understanding of entry, also outlined in ADMIGOV’s initial description, as access to the territory of states. This understanding was further specified in the course of WP1’s work, which focused on entry as access to the territory of the Member States of the European Union for third country nationals (TCNs), that is for persons who are not citizens of an EU or EEA/Schengen state. WP1 researchers also developed a common working understanding of entry governance as the development and implementation of rules and procedures (i.e. norms, including administrative, legal and procedural norms and the way they are put into effect by operational actors), as well as technical systems, governing decisions on the eligibility of persons soliciting access to the territory of an EU or EEA/Schengen state.