Dear Migration and Home Affairs,

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information on EU fundings towards removal and deportation programmes of EU member states.

Following a correspondence with the United Kingdom Immigration Enforcement office, I've received the following answer when asking the UK Home Office about removal and deportation costs:

"The Home Office receives funding from the European Union towards its removals programme which offset some of the gross costs and help fund some of the various voluntary removals schemes."

Stated this, I would like to receive from you the following information:
- Total amount of funding given to governments of EU 28 member states towards their removal/deportation programmes in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
- Total amount of funding given to UK Government towards its removal/deportation programmes in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
- Please state any restriction imposed on EU member states on how this money can be spent.
- Please state if this funding is ring-fenced for removal/deportation programmes alone.

Note that the the terminology of 'removal' and 'deportation' has been used using the following meaning:

'Deportation' is the way in which a person is removed from a country if he/she has been convicted of a criminal offence, or his/her presence in the country is otherwise not conducive to the public good.

'Removal' is when the person no longer has any legal right to be in a country, and when his/her appeal rights have been exhausted. This is typically when a person:
• is refused ‘leave to enter’ at a port (land, sea or air);
• has entered the country illegally (for example if they came in the back of a lorry);
• has overstayed his/her leave (for example, remained longer than a visa allows);
• has breached conditions attached to his/her leave;
• is a dependent family member of any of the above.

Yours faithfully,

Daniele Palumbo

Dear EC ARES NOREPLY,

Here is my postal address:

Daniele Palumbo
Floor 24, 25 Canada Square, London, E14 5LQ

If you require other information please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Daniele Palumbo

Dear EC ARES,

With this email, I would like to follow up about the status of my FOI request.
An answer was due on 3 March 2017, but at today - 8 March 2017 - I didn't receive any notification from your office.

It would be great if you could give an update about the request.

Yours sincerely,

Daniele Palumbo

Dear EC ARES NOREPLY,

Could you pelase provide a timing for an answer to this FOI request?
This has already beed overdue for a couple of months.

Yours sincerely,

Daniele Palumbo

Dear Migration and Home Affairs,

Please pass this on to the person who reviews confirmatory applications.

I am filing the following confirmatory application with regards to my access to documents request 'Funding towards Removal and Deportation programmes'.

I never received an answer after providing my postal address as requested.

A full history of my request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/fund...

Yours faithfully,

Daniele Palumbo