Throughout 2025, InfoMigrants followed the political developments across Europe as well as in transit countries for migrants. While European countries like Greece and the United Kingdom hardened their policies toward both regular and irregular immigrants, there were changes afoot on the African continent as well: Tunisia and Mauritania hardened their repressive practices toward undocumented migrants. InfoMigrants compiled an overview of the most important developments.
1. France: New guidelines restrict access to citizenship
France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau tightened the criteria to obtain French citizenship in exceptional circumstances (known as "AES" in France).
Under the new law, the required duration of French residence was raised to "at least seven years," compared to five or three years previously.
Similarly, the guidelines for the level of French language proficiency to obtain citizenship were also raised to a B2 spoken and written level, which corresponds to upper intermediate proficiency.
Several months later, the Ministry of the Interior issued updated guidelines to prefects across the country on how to implement the changes, providing guidelines on the new restrictions to access of French nationality to foreigners.
Read AlsoFrench lawyer deplores new measures for undocumented immigrants
2. Mauritania: Reports of arbitrary detentions and expulsions
The Mauritanian government introduced a new repressive policy at the beginning of 2025, aimed at curbing the numbers of sub-Saharan migrants in the country who ultimately were seeking to reach Spain's Canary Islands via the perilous Atlantic route.
Mauritania had become the main departure point in West Africa in 2023 for migrants seeking to reach the Canaries, when the country entered talks with the European Union (EU) and later signed a partnership to stem this trend.
According to the deal, Nouakchott became responsible for stopping migrants from leaving for the Canary Island in exchange for funds from the EU. Officials intercepted over 30,000 migrants between January and April 2025 alone, according to government data published in May.
Numerous migrants have since spoken of arbitrary arrests taking place on the street or at their workplace in Mauritania - and not only at the known departure spots.
Many were later deported toward the country's borders and beyond, especially to the city of Rosso in Senegal.
Thousands of migrants found themselves in the border city in 2025, lost and discouraged after their forced expulsion from the Sahel nation.
Read AlsoOn the Senegal-Mauritania border, hundreds of migrants are 'in a desperate situation'
3. Greece: governments hardens immigration laws
As one of the countries at the forefront of migration into Europe, Greece was already known for having on of the most restrictive immigration policies across the continent. Its laws, however, became even harsher in 2025.
In September, the government introduced new legislation whereby people without authorization to live in Greece will face lengthy prison terms if they refuse to cooperate and leave.
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Greece also eliminated a law that allowed irregular migrants to apply for residency after spending seven years in the country.
The Greek parliament also adopted another law in September designed to facilitate the forced return of failed asylum seekers to their country of origin or possibly to a "safe third country."
Read AlsoGreece wants to work with Germany in building third-country migrant centers in Africa
Earlier in the year, Athens had announced a three-month moratorium on asylum applications being processed between July and October.
This measure was prompted by a dramatic increase in irregular arrivals on the southern island of Crete; a record-breaking 16,770 people seeking asylum in the EU arrived on the island in 2025 in total, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
4. Spain: Viral image leads to violence in Torre Pacheco
Anti-migrant clashes rocked the Spanish city of Torre Pacheco, near Murcia, in the beginning of July after a photo of a 68-year-old local man with a swollen face went viral overnight.
The victim claimed that he had been attacked in the middle of a street by three youths from northern Africa.
The far-right quickly used the event to blame Moroccan immigrants; in order to avoid further escalation, the Guardia Civil and local police had to deploy over 100 officials across the city.
The Torre Pacheco affair coincided with anti-migrant riots in Northern Ireland and xenophobic protests in the UK around the same time.
5. UK: biggest changes to immigration law in decades
Over 110,000 people took to the streets of central London on September 13, 2025 in protest to the continued arrivals of "small boats" in the English Channel and the overall number of immigrants in the country.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to the rallies, saying that despite its immigration challenges, the UK's flag represented "our diverse country."
At the same time however, Starmer’s government, facing growing pressure from the far-right, announced drastic immigration reforms shortly thereafter.
Under the new system, anyone granted asylum in the UK will automatically only receive 30 months of protection instead of the five years that would be granted as a matter of course previously. Additional assessment will also be introduced to each renewal after 30-month periods, with the government resolute to send people back home if the situation in their country of origin has improved.
Even long-term recognized refugees will now have to wait 20 years -- rather than five years -- to request a permanent residence permit, known in the UK as "indefinite leave to remain."
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that settlement in the UK will from no on have to be earned by "contributing to society," and not by "paying a people smugglers to cross the Channel."
6. Tunisia: Deteriorating living conditions result in record voluntary returns
Thousands of undocumented migrants in Tunisia have decided to return to their country of origin amid deteriorating living conditions in the North African country.
Over 8,700 people benefited from various "voluntary return" programs to 26 different destinations, which are facilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tunisia.
This represents a threefold increase compared to the 2,250 voluntarily returns which took place in 2023.
With mounting return requests from migrants, IOM had to intensify these departures, while the Tunisian government also organized its own charter flights to repatriate migrants.
7. One-in, one-out': a zero-sum deal between the UK and France
In July, London and Paris signed a migration deal to try to stem Channel crossings, which stipulates that some irregular migrants arriving in the UK can be sent back to France in exchange for others to be allowed to enter Britain legally.
The people granted to enter the UK will typically have to prove ties to the country, such as existing family members or a legal history in Britain.
The agreement is intended to stamp out the business model of smugglers: If those who pay for irregular transfers to Britain can be returned to France, and other people who do not pay smugglers brought in for free, the demand for smuggling services should fall significantly; that's at least the thinking behind this zero-sum deal.
Paris welcomed the scheme, saying it had done its utmost to stop the departures of "small boats" toward the UK, which in 2025 reached record numbers: Since the beginning of the year, more than 39,000 migrants have managed to reach British coasts, despite a significant increase in patrols on either side of the Channel.
France meanwhile was apparently planning to take things even further: On November 25, the French daily newspaper Le Monde revealed a leaked document that highlighted plans by French authorities to breach international maritime law by allowing official to enter the waters of the Channel to stop the small boats from leaving; since such intervention have a high likelihood in causing death and injury, they are prohibited under maritime law.
8. Germany: Chancellor Friedrich Merz tightens immigration
Germany's new conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, who took over office in July 2025, immediately began pushing for tougher border policies as part of a broad change of direction in the country's immigration laws.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced the introduction of extensive checks near Germany's borders, ordering police to reject people presenting with an asylum request at the borders, arguing that since Germany is surrounded by safe EU+ countries, no one would have to venture up to its borders to seek safety.
The only exception to the new border policy were "vulnerable groups" such as pregnant women and children.
Later in the year, Berlin announced plans to put an end to there inspections at its borders in favor of gradually rolling out a new policy: the usage of "return hubs" outside EU borders for migrants, whose asylum request had been rejected.
In practice, this will mean that the many failed asylum seeker who are pegged to be deported from Germany but who cannot legally be expelled to due a lack of deportation deals with their countries of origin, can be sent to a third country instead.
Read AlsoAfghanistan: Germany 'close to reaching deportation deal' with Taliban
Merz’s government took another step in hardening its migration policy by deporting 81 Afghan men convicted of crimes back to their Taliban-controlled homeland, marking the second such operation since the Taliban takeover of power in 2021. More recently, it has also sent a criminal Syrian back to his home country -- one year after the fall of strongman Bashar Assad.
Furthermore, in order to limit the number of immigrants in the country, the German parliament voted at the end of June to suspend family reunification for people benefiting not from asylum but rather from subsidiary protection for the initial two years of their stay.
9. Spain: Arrivals fall for Canaries but increase in Balearic Islands
The number of migrants arriving on the Canary Islands fell sharply in 2025: About 17,500 people managed to reach the archipelago in 2025, compared to over 36,000 in 2024, according to the Spanish Interior Minister, marking a 50 percent decline.
The number of fatalities on that route also saw a dramatic drop from more than 10,000 cases in 2024 to 3,090 in 2025.
Meanwhile, the Spanish Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea witnessed a significant increase in arrivals in the past few months. According to the Spanish press agency EFE, a record-breaking 7,200 migrants arrived in the Balearic Islands between January and December 2025 -- an increase of 27 percent.
Deaths on the Balearic route meanwhile doubled from 517 in 2024 to 1,037 in 2025.
Read Also'This summer was chaotic': the Balearic Islands face an unprecedented number of migrants