Skip to main content
Migration and Home Affairs

Definition(s)

In the global context, crossing borders without complying with the necessary requirements for legal entry into the receiving State.
In the Schengen context, the entry of a third-country national into a Schengen Member State who does not satisfy Art. 5 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code).

Source(s)

Global context: Definition for 'illegal entry' in Art. 3(b) of the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Schengen context : Developed by EMN.

Translations

  • BG: незаконно влизане
  • CS: neoprávněný vstup na území
  • DE: irreguläre Einreise
  • EL: παράτυπη είσοδος
  • EN: irregular entry
  • ES: entrada irregular
  • ET: ebaseaduslik (riiki) sisenemine
  • FI: säännöstenvastainen / laiton maahantulo
  • FR: entrée irrégulière
  • GA: iontráil aimhrialta
  • HR: nezakoniti ulazak
  • HU: szabálytalan határátlépés
  • IT: ingresso irregolare
  • LT: neteisėtas atvykimas
  • LV: nelikumīga ieceļošana
  • MT: Dħul irregolari
  • NL: illegale binnenkomst / onregelmatige of irreguliere binnenkomst
  • PL: nieregularny wjazd
  • PT: entrada irregular
  • RO: intrare neregulamentară / intrare ilegală / trecere neautorizată a frontierei
  • SK: nelegálny vstup / neoprávnený vstup
  • SL: nedovoljeni vstop / nezakoniti vstop
  • SV: olaglig inresa
  • NO: irregulær innreise
  • KA: კანონიერი საფუძვლის გარეშე შესვლა
  • UK: нелегальний в’їзд
  • HY: անկանոն մուտք

Synonym(s)

  • illegal entry
  • unauthorised crossing of the external EU border

Broader Term(s)

Related Term(s)

Note(s)

1. The European Commission favours nowadays the term 'irregular entry' instead of 'illegal entry'.
2. Art. 5 of the Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code) states that for stays not exceeding three months per six-month period, the entry conditions for third-country nationals shall be the following:
a) they are in possession of a valid travel document or documents authorising them to cross the border;
b) they are in possession of a valid visa, if required pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement (17), except where they hold a valid residence permit;
c) they justify the purpose and conditions of the intended stay, and they have sufficient means of subsistence, both for the duration of the intended stay and for the return to their country of origin or transit to a third country into which they are certain to be admitted, or are in a position to acquire such means lawfully;
d) they are not persons for whom an alert has been issued in the SIS for the purposes of refusing entry;
e) they are not considered to be a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the EU Member States, in particular where no alert has been issued in EU Member States' national data bases for the purposes of refusing entry on the same grounds.
3. Art. 2(1) of the Proposal for a Regulation introducing a screening of third country nationals at the external borders, COM(2020) 612 final uses the term 'unauthorized crossing of the external EU border' with the following definition: Crossing of the external EU border by land, sea or air, at places other than border crossing points or at times other than the fixed opening hours, as referred to in Art. 5(3) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code).
4. For more information, see Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code).