In what cases can migrants be expelled outside the EU?

In the case that a migrant does not get accepted as an asylum, they may be expelled outside the EU. Asylum is the protection granted by a state to someone who has left their home country as a political refugee.

Many lack passports or other ID, having risked their lives in the Mediterranean and Balkans, on long journeys abused and exploited by criminal gangs. The act of establishing nationality can be a long daunting process - and those decisions can be disputed by countries asked to take migrants back. Many migrants reaching the EU from sub-Saharan Africa or the Western Balkans fail to get asylum, as they are classed as economic migrants. One of the incentives however for irregular migrants is the fact that fewer than half of failed asylum seekers are actually expelled.