Enforcing the exit of irregular migrants from EU Member States, and the EU as a whole, is undoubtedly one of the most politically charged and operationally contested aspects in EU migration governance. By the term exit regime we refer to all the institutions, procedures, and specific measures that are meant to ensure that irregular migrants with an order to leave an EU Member State will exit – one way or another – the sovereign territory of that particular country. In our terminology, an exit regime includes two prevalent forms of ensuring that irregular migrants leave a certain country: ‘forced return’ (also referred to as deportation, expulsion and forced removal) and so-called ‘voluntary return’ (which comes in different modalities, mostly differentiated according to the level of assistance that is provided to the migrant). There is a third form, which is often referred to as ‘independent return’, and is meant to capture irregular migrants who decide to leave an EU Member State without informing and/or ... : This report is part of ADMIGOV work package 2, more information https://admigov.eu ...