Voluntary return , Date: 2024.06.25, format: Article, area: Authority

Voluntary departures

With the REAG/GARP 2.0 humanitarian support programme, the federal and Länder governments support people in their voluntary return to their country of origin, or onward migration to another host country. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) was responsible for implementing the programme for over 40 years. Since 1 January 2024, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees now organises and supervises voluntary departures. Funding via REAG/GARP 2.0 depends on nationality. Returnees with specific nationalities can also receive financial start-up support through the GARP component of the programme.

10,762 people were able to leave the country via the REAG/GARP support programme in 2023 (version: June 2024). In 2022, 7,877 people left the country voluntarily.

Returnees' most common destination countries

The chart below shows the most common destination countries of returnees, and how many people departed to them in 2023 with the support of the REAG/GARP programme (version: June 2024).

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Data source: IOM; Processed by BAMF

Latest developments

The number of departures supported by REAG/GARP to the visa-liberalised Western Balkan states and Kosovo has declined compared to previous years. In recent years, the main destination countries for voluntary departures funded by REAG/GARP have included North Macedonia, Iraq, Albania, Georgia, Serbia and the Russian Federation.

The relatively low number of voluntary departures in 2020 and 2021 can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The associated restrictions on international air travel temporarily had a strong impact on the implementation of voluntary departures via the REAG/GARP programme.

The departure figures only include people who received support by the REAG/GARP programme. These are destitute persons who no longer have a residence permit in Germany (e.g. rejected asylum seeker, foreigners whose deportation has been suspended), or persons entitled to stay who return voluntarily (e.g. persons entitled to protection with a residence permit under international law or for humanitarian reasons).

Further information on the REAG/GARP 2.0 return assistance programme (e.g. on the eligible group of people or the programme benefits) can be found at www.ReturningfromGermany.de.

Historical development of the number of departures since 1991

The chart below shows the number of voluntary departures supported by the REAG/GARP programme since 1991 (version: June 2024).

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Data source: IOM; Processed by BAMF

• The high number of departures from 1997 to 2000 were due to the end of the Balkan conflicts (disintegration of the former state of Yugoslavia).
• The high number of departures from 2015 to 2017 were due to the high influx of asylum seekers to Germany since the beginning of 2014.
• The low numbers in 2020 and 2021 were due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions.

For more information on the REAG/GARP 2.0 programme and figures on other migration movements collected by the Federal Statistical Office, please follow "Links" under "Further information" in the tab at the bottom of the page.