The European Union is preparing to roll out one of the most far-reaching overhauls of its migration and visa policy in decades. Brussels presents it as a shift toward “order, security and efficiency.” Yet a closer reading of the new Migration and Asylum Pact and the first-ever EU Visa Strategy points to a less ambitious reality: not an end to mass immigration, but better tools to administer it, channel it and, to a large extent, legalise it.
The new framework, due to apply from June 12, 2026, introduces mandatory and accelerated procedures at the EU’s external borders, extensive use of biometric databases, and an explicit link between visa policy and cooperation on returns by third countries. But it does not question the overall volume of arrivals or the structural logic of migration attraction. Instead, it treats migration pressure as a permanent feature of EU policy.
One of the Pact’s central pillars is mandatory border screening for illegal arrivals and for certain visa-free travellers. Within a maximum of seven days, individuals will undergo identity, health, and security checks, including fingerprinting and facial recognition. The data will feed into an expanded Eurodac, no longer merely an asylum database but a central repository for migration management and returns.
For asylum seekers from countries with low EU-wide recognition rates (countries whose nationals have a low success rate when applying for asylum), the Pact establishes an accelerated border procedure with a theoretical timeframe of around twelve weeks to process the asylum application, any appeal, and—if rejected—any subsequent return. During this period, applicants are not formally considered to have entered EU territory—a legal fiction that allows them to be held in border processing facilities.
The Commission insists the system will be more effective. Presenting the reform, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brunner, argued that the EU is “bringing order to Europe with stronger borders and more effective returns,” pointing to a sharp drop in illegal arrivals on certain routes as evidence that migration diplomacy is delivering results.
That message has been echoed by other senior EU figures. In a post on X, Commissioner Dubravka Šuica welcomed the adoption of the European Asylum and Migration Strategy as proof that the EU is “delivering an effective migration policy in line with our values,” built on partnerships with countries of origin and transit and on the creation of legal pathways.
Yet the architecture of the Pact itself suggests that the goal is not to turn off the tap, but to manage flows faster and more uniformly—flows that Brussels increasingly treats as inevitable. The first country of entry remains responsible for the asylum claim, while so-called “solidarity” among member states relies largely on financial contributions or operational support, rather than on any meaningful reduction in migratory pressure.
The new EU Visa Strategy, presented Thursday, January 29th, reinforces that same approach. Brussels plans tighter monitoring of visa-free regimes and explicitly links visa policy to third countries’ cooperation on readmission and returns. In cases of non-cooperation or what the EU defines as “hostile actions,” the Union reserves the right to suspend or restrict visa access.
At the same time, the Schengen area will move toward full digitalisation of short-stay visas, including online applications, e-visas, and pre-travel authorisations even for visa-exempt nationals. Multiple-entry visas will be facilitated for frequent travellers deemed “trusted.”
Alongside the security narrative, however, the Commission introduces the economic dimension without ambiguity. The strategy is paired with a recommendation aimed at attracting talent, streamlining and speeding up visas and residence permits for highly skilled workers, students, researchers, and entrepreneurs. The message is explicit: Europe does not want less immigration, but immigration better tailored to its labour-market needs.
The sharpest criticism comes from governments and analysts who argue that Brussels confuses administrative control with genuine control of migration flows. Balázs Orbán, political director to Hungary’s prime minister, accused the Commission of repeating the same logic it has followed for more than a decade: treating migration “not as a security or sovereignty issue, but as a manageable phenomenon and an economic policy tool.”
Orbán argued that the new Pact rests on a flawed assumption—that the system can be fixed through more procedures and more legal pathways, when the problem is structural. “Illegal entry alone triggers lengthy legal processes that keep people on EU territory for years, even when they ultimately receive no protection,” he wrote. The outcome, he warned, is not less migration but a redistribution of its consequences among member states.
‼️The Brussels elite continues to get migration fundamentally wrong. This was once again confirmed, as the @EU_Commission published its European Asylum and Migration Management Strategy. 👉 Once again, the focus is not on stopping migration, but on “managing” it. ❌️ According… pic.twitter.com/zfoAyJkumN
— Balázs Orbán (@BalazsOrban_HU) January 30, 2026
The EU’s new migration framework strengthens borders, expands databases, and accelerates procedures. But it does not propose a structural reduction in migration flows, nor a fundamental reassessment of a model that has made immigration a permanent pillar of Europe’s economic and demographic policy.
