Projects which are not in line with applicable international law and applicable international frameworks for migrants and refugees, such as the Global Compact for Migration and Global Compact on Refugees (as relevant), as well as the SDGs, are not eligible.

Development co-operation programmes can be part of a broader policy dialogue with the beneficiary country, including in the field of migration. Development funds might e.g. make the developing country more willing to co-operate in the return and readmission of rejected asylum seekers and irregular migrants.

However, if the delivery of funds within an activity is subject to specific conditions on migration outcomes, the funds are not reportable as ODA unless it can be demonstrated that the conditions imposed primarily contribute to the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries, and not primarily to the donor's domestic migration concerns.

To help identify the main objective – and hence facilitate the ODA-eligibility assessment – of projects with mutual benefits to the provider and recipient countries, the expected development-enhancing results of the interventions as well as the projects’ objectives and respective results indicators should be considered. They can inform of the extent to which the projects pursue domestic migration interests. The overall framework and narrative at programme level that underpins the project also needs to be verified and possibly checked in light of specific questions to confirm eligibility. Examples of questions:

• Does the narrative make specific reference to the provider country’s domestic migration interests, “migratory pressures” or the “refugee crisis”? (To what extent? e.g. principally, exclusively?)
• Does the intervention aim to restrict migration? (Any form of migration? Through coercive measures?)
• Does the intervention provide only a short-term response to temporary migration patterns and temporary interests with no ambition to contribute to sustainable development?

Addressing irregular migration entails co-operation on border management between provider countries and developing countries for a mutual benefit. However, the primary motivation of this co-operation can be unclear. The boundary between ODA and non-ODA eligible activities in the field of border management is determined based on their primary objective (see also Principle 3).

• Types of ODA-eligible activities:
  • Civilian activities that build the capacity of developing countries to improve the administration of measures related to the movement of persons and goods (strategy and policy development as well as legal and judicial development, including the organisation of border management systems) when the main objective is the promotion of economic development and welfare of developing countries, in particular:
    • Activities to adopt global best practices for good governance (e.g. identity management, document verification, fight against corruption).
    • Activities to protect migrants’ human rights.
    • Activities that promote the establishment and implementation of procedures and processes for safe, orderly and regular migration in the best interest of migrants and their well-being (activities with a focus on making mobility safer, human security, awareness campaigns, social and medical services, provision of safety and/or humanitarian or medical assistance to migrants). 
  • Capacity building activities that deter, prevent and fight migrant smuggling or trafficking in human beings when aimed at protecting migrants against abuses. 
  • Collaboration/capacity-building between provider and developing country in the areas listed above. 
  • Rescue of migrants when it is the main purpose of the operation. Only additional costs related to the operation may be counted.
• Specific exclusions from ODA:
  • Activities that support developing or developed countries’ border authorities with the main objective to restrict migration to the provider country. 
  • Border control projects i.e. border checks and border surveillance activities for the purpose of constraining migration (e.g. construction of a wall, installation of barbed wire, other border control projects where the main objective is to intercept and return migrants) or that are directly related to army or lethal action of security forces, or that entail military type border and territorial surveillance such as armed drones or kinetic patrolling.
  • Training for border guards and building the capacity of border patrols administration, except in support of ODA-eligible types of activities listed above. 

Assistance to forced returns is excluded from ODA. For other returns, the eligibility depends on the country of departure:

• Assistance to migrants for their safe, dignified, informed and voluntary return to their country of origin is eligible in the case of returns from another developing country.
• For costs of return from provider countries, as well as expenditures for return and reintegration incurred in provider countries (pre-departure assistance), the rules on in-donor refugee costs apply.

Sustainable reintegration programmes qualify as ODA if they primarily focus on the economic development and welfare of developing countries. Reintegration activities undertaken in countries of origin are in principle ODA-eligible irrespective of the status of returnees (forced or voluntary).

Reintegration support that exclusively targets returnees from the provider country may be considered eligible only if it is demonstrated that it enables sustainable reintegration and does not primarily aim to address the donor's domestic migration concerns.

Activities that focus on giving access to decent labour opportunities (Decent Work Agenda), protecting the rights of migrants, preventing abuse and exploitation or aiming to improve migrants’ overall labour situation in ODA-eligible countries are ODA-eligible.

Activities fostering labour mobility from ODA-eligible countries to non-ODA eligible countries can also be eligible, where the primary purpose is to benefit developing countries (migrants’ countries of origin). This can be demonstrated through, for example, a focus on skills transfers to the developing country of origin, or on upskilling of migrants in line with clearly identified skill gaps in the developing country’s labour market. Activities intended to primarily fill labour market gaps in the non-ODA eligible country are not eligible.

Costs incurred in the provider country for these labour mobility programmes beyond 12 months of stay of migrants should be excluded. In the case of programmes of a longer duration and for a maximum term of 48 months, costs may be considered ODA-eligible if and only if the programme responds to a recipient country’s request and includes a clear return cycle of migrants.

Labour mobility activities that promote the permanent integration of (potential) migrants into the economy and society of non-ODA eligible host countries are not ODA-eligible.

Engagement with diaspora in provider countries without a clear developmental or humanitarian aim for the primary benefit of the origin country, and/or promoting the provider countries’ domestic migration agenda is not eligible.